


Indelible

by SongAboutExiles



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Aftercare, All the AUs in One Place for Your Convenience, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, M/M, Pain, Past Sexual Abuse, S&M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 14:08:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17081750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongAboutExiles/pseuds/SongAboutExiles
Summary: Eggsy is a pop star in a boy band, trapped in the closet and desperate to come out screaming rock music. Then he meets a mysterious man in a tattoo parlor, and all things seem possible.AKA, Eggsy has a sexual awakening under the needle, and Merlin is there to take it to the next level.





	1. I am a Bombshell

Eggsy plopped down on the couch in the green room, dripping with sweat and exhausted from another show. He kept hearing how he should be energized after performing before thousands of screaming fans, how the music should lift him up and not wear him down. Maybe that was true when he was fifteen, but now, seven long years later, he was just tired.

He was tired of the pop music and the ridiculous dancing and the way he was policed by the record label, the public, the press, and not least his manager. Always his manager. 

Chester King was a legend in the music business. A star-maker. He was also a predatory, sadistic fuck who not only dictated every aspect of the band's life, but personally ensured that their frontman was too cowed and disgraced in private to ever step foot out of line. 

He took solace in the fact that he'd managed to use the money he earned to keep his Mum and little sister in comfort, and away from his stepfather Dean for good. The security he paid for ensured that much. They were both happy and thriving, and on the rare instances he got to actually go home, it gave him much-needed happiness. Daisy even had a pony named Pebbles. 

Maudlin thoughts didn't keep his bandmates from raucously entering the green room and opening beers. Digby handed Eggsy one, and he sipped at it without much relish. 

"Fuck, Unwin, I don't know why you have to be such a goddamn arsehole," Digby declared, taking the chair next to Eggsy on the could. "We killed it tonight."

"And we have a line of girls around the block just waiting to get their knickers off," Charlie offered, skipping the beer and going right for the vodka.

"For one, a lot of those girls are underage. For another, you know about me and Roxy. We're solid, and I ain't gonna fuck that up." Eggsy had never been happier to have the world's best friend on his arm at every red carpet event. Not only did it keep the press and the paparazzi satisfied, it made the teenage girls swoon. They shipped it. He'd even read the fanfic with Roxy one tipsy night.

As the night wore on, they were chauffeured to their hotel suite with a legion of party girls in tow, and that's where things started getting out of hand. Chester was always pleased with the stories of post-show bashes - it showed that 'his' boys were all perfectly normal - pussy, booze and drugs, the holy trinity of music stardom. And they were stars, after all. 

Eggsy made it for all of an hour. He took a couple of hits off the bong and drank a couple of beers and fended off at least four determined young women. When he pulled on his coat and headed for the door, Charlie stopped him with an arm across the door. Why did this fucker have to be so damned tall?

"What, does little Eggsy have to run home to Mummy? Or maybe to the ball and chain?" Charlie sneered down at him.

"You know very well that neither of them are in Edinburgh. Now, shove the fuck off." Eggsy pushed Charlie's arm out of the way and managed to escape the room. The hallway wasn't exactly the great outdoors, but after the stifling atmosphere in the suite it was quiet and smelled vaguely of whatever hotels generally smelled like. Loneliness. They smelled lonely.

Turning up the collar of his coat against the mist in the air, Eggsy left the hotel and chose a random direction. One thing about being in the band that didn't suck (besides the money) was the opportunity to explore, something a chav from the estates didn't often get. 

So, he walked and let his thoughts flow, the moonlight trying valiantly to sally forth through the clouds and the grey fog. The longer he walked, the clearer things became. 

At fifteen, he'd gone out of desperation to audition for Chester King. One of his lackeys had seen him at a gymnastics tournament, and had invited him for the opportunity to show Chester what he was made of. Show Chester how good you can be, and you can have the world in your pocket. He'd still had bruises around his throat from the last time Dean came home pissed as hell and belligerent, but his mother had covered them up with some of her makeup. 

At the audition, he'd proved he could dance when choreographed - and damned well, too - and that he had a voice that wouldn't quit. He sang and danced like his mother and sister's lives depended on it. 

Afterward, Chester emerged from the shadows of the rehearsal hall, an old man well-dressed and impossibly, incongruously posh for the music business. He'd motioned for Eggsy to follow him into his luxurious office and for a moment Eggsy remembered feeling overwhelmed by the opulence and class of the place. Here he was, a bloody little chav, all fucked in the head, and he did not belong. 

"I very much want to offer you the lead position in the new band I'm forming, young Eggsy." His voice was a posh as the rest of him, and it had made Eggsy unaccountably nervous. "What do you think of that?"

"I think...that'd be brilliant, sir." Eggsy had found himself smiling broadly, already calculating in his head how long it would take him to make enough money to get everyone the fuck away from Dean and his dogs. 

"I simply require one thing. I must know that you're willing to play this game. The music industry is frequently a brutal one, and it would be my duty as your manager to protect you. All I ask in return for pulling you out of your filth and into the limelight is for you to cooperate." Chester's lip had curled on the word filth, and Eggsy had started to clock what the fuck was going on here. 

"Cooperate." Eggsy felt his stomach lurch sickeningly. Then he remembered the way Daisy cried whenever Dean got near her, and he'd taken a deep, shaky breath. "Of course I'll cooperate, sir."

"I knew you were a sporting sort of lad." One blowjob later, Eggsy had signed his life away and puked into Chester's impeccable toilet. 

Seven years later, Eggsy had stopped wondering if it had been worth it. What was the occasional blowjob, after all? At least Chester had never fucked him, right? And if that were true, why did it still make him feel so ill?

At fifteen, Eggsy had already known he was gay. He'd also already known that if he went down this path he could never, ever be himself. When they'd achieved stardom, the paparazzi were literally everywhere. He'd never been able to figure a safe way to even hook up with a bloke.

Not that he really wanted random hook ups. No, Eggsy was cursed with a hopeless romanticism, a fact that Roxy teased him mercilessly about. He wasn't 'saving himself,' but he couldn't give himself away and risk everything for an hour of pleasure. 

And then there was the music.

Eggsy hated the music they made. He had a lifetime of rage bottled up inside him, and he wanted to scream it to the world. In his endless chains of hotel rooms, he cranked up the hard rock and metal and tested out his voice. Could it do more than just croon at fans packed into stadiums? Could that world even be his? The bland, parentally-approved excuse for music that came out of his mouth every night felt like ashes. 

In the present, Eggsy looked up and found himself in an old part of the city with cobblestones under his feet. He stopped and looked up at the monochrome sky. His skin itched like something was trying claw out of it. He wanted to scream, he wanted to sing, he wanted to write brutal songs about this brutal world. And good god, did he want to get fucked.

When he looked around at his surroundings again, he saw a flash of neon just down the street, limning the silvery mist with two simple words - Wizard Tattoo. With an almost staggering suddenness, Eggsy knew that was exactly what he wanted - to mark his skin, to somehow get to that itch that wouldn't die and make it finally stop. Even if it was just for a little while. 

He could hear Roxy in his head, telling him that walking into a random tattoo shop and getting inked without even knowing what the hell he wanted was stupidity. It didn't halt his steps as he walked toward the light like a moth flying into the flame. Eggsy could no more stop himself than he could grow wings and fly.

The shop was small, the only light coming from the neon, a couple of strategically placed lamps and the lights over the three tattoo chairs. It was deserted, this late on a weeknight.

Eggsy almost jumped out of his skin when a deep voice came from the curtained off back of the shop. "You're lost, boy." 

He turned so fast he almost fell over to find a very tall, strongly-built man outlined against the parted black curtains. 

"Um, yeah, I kinda am. But I really do fancy a tattoo." Eggsy was proud of himself for not making a total fool out of himself. Partial fool it was.

"Oh, you fancy one, do you?" The man stepped out of the shadows and Eggsy had to stop himself from gasping. Jesus fucking Christ, he was gorgeous. Six foot plus of firm muscle packaged into a tight black tee shirt and artfully ragged jeans, with sharp features and a bald head. His arms were covered in two full sleeves of impossibly intricate Celtic knotwork, and his hands were so big Eggsy couldn't picture them doing anything so delicate as wielding a tattoo gun.

"Yeah, I do. I think I need one." Eggsy just stared for a long moment, caught in the utter unreality of the moment. He scarcely dared breathe for fear it would all disappear into another dream. 

"Ah, now you're talking." The man's voice was thick with a melodious brogue, and he stalked up to Eggsy. "What's your name, boy?"

"Eggsy." He looked all the way up at the man's face, forcing himself to meet his eyes with their penetrating stare. It made him feel naked, in all the best ways.

"That's not your Name." The man intoned the word 'name' in a way that left no doubt in Eggsy's mind of its capitalisation.

"Gary. Gareth." No one, not even his mum, called him that. Not since he was a wee little thing, before his father died.

"That's better. I'm Merlin. Tell me what you want." Merlin stood just a hair too close - close enough that it made Eggsy's heart race. He smelled so good, like he'd always imagined a forest would smell, with just the faintest hint of clean sweat and musk.

"Is it bad if I say I don't really know?" All Eggsy did know was that he was not leaving this shop until he'd felt this man's hands on him.

"No, but why now? Why here?" Merlin's head cocked to one side as if studying him. 

"Swear down, I was standing down the block feeling like clawing my own skin off. Then I saw your shop. And I knew I wanted to come in." The words came out in a rush.

Merlin smiled for the first time, a knowing little smile that played around his lips. The lips that Eggsy was most assuredly not staring up at. "Take off your shirt and get in the middle chair."

By this point, having been dressed and undressed and manhandled by costumers and choreographers and Chester King himself, Eggsy should have no modesty left. That didn't mean that there wasn't a shy flush creeping up his neck as he shed his coat and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a smooth, well-toned chest. He hopped up on the chair and turned to face Merlin, who had moved to arrange his ink and pull a sealed set of needles out of a black steel tool chest. 

"Like this?" Eggsy was painfully aware how hard his nipples were, even though the inside of the shop was cosy and warm.

"Mmm. Now..." Merlin regarded him evenly. "Tell me one true thing."

"I'm gay." Eggsy had no idea that was going to come out of his mouth, and he barely restrained himself from covering his mouth with his hand.

"Tch. Yes, but that's not the sum total of what you are. Of your truth. It's one part, and one you obviously feel you need to keep secret, but it's not True." Again with the capitals.

"I want to fall in love." Somehow, Eggsy knew very well that the right thing to do was to say exactly what flashed into his mind.

"Better. Now we have something to work with." When Merlin pressed a broad palm to his solar plexus, the shock of it went right to his balls, stripping him of his sense altogether. The world seemed to narrow down to the two of them, in this shop, and the warm solidity of Merlin's hand on him. "Do you have a high pain threshold, Gareth?"

"It doesn't matter." In that moment, he would endure anything to keep Merlin's hand on him. 

"Well. This would be my first choice for your piece, right here. But it will hurt, make no mistake. If you wanted a gentler first time, I could work here instead." He moved his hand to cup Eggsy's bicep. "You need to decide." 

Eggsy was glad that the light over the lower half of his body was so dim because he was well on his way to a full erection just from a couple of touches. Somehow, he found the courage to grip Merlin's wrist and place it over his chest again. "Here."

"You're no coward, boy." Merlin smiled down at him, looking quite pleased. "Here it shall be." 

When Merlin spoke, it sounded like the best kind of music, low and growly and yet full of meaning. This was not a man who wasted his words. Eggsy nodded and tried to calm his breathing. He'd made it through enough abuse in his life to know that you had to just breathe through it. Nothing can hurt forever, after all.

"I'll be freehanding this, so you'll need to be still. Can you be still for me, Gareth?" Merlin's hands seem to work independently, prepping the tattoo gun expertly (or what seemed expertly to Eggsy, whose eyes weren't sure whether they wanted to look at Merlin's hands or his face). 

"Yeah.. I know how to take pain. And it won't last forever." Eggsy was, in truth, quite nervous, but he was doing his damndest not to let it show. 

The whir of the gun was almost startling, but not as startling as Merlin's next words, said after a long pause. "This isn't because you're bad, Gareth. The pain isn't because you're bad."

Oh. Eggsy was floored, searching for words that wouldn't come. He was choosing this, and that made all the difference. And Merlin knew that.

"I...I understand," Eggsy managed to reply, finding himself relaxing into what was coming. 

"Good. Now, take a deep breath." Merlin halted with the needle just shy of his skin, waiting for Eggsy to do as he was told. 

Eggsy complied, letting his breath out slowly, and then the first touch of the needle came. Oh, it hurt, and make no mistake, but it was in no way a brutal kind of pain. No, it was...fine. A fine kind of pain. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and Merlin started to work, creating outlines in detailed, sure, _fine_ motions that wasted nothing.

What he hadn't expected, because how could he, was the way his cock rose rock hard at the needle's dance over his skin, at Merlin's sure touch and sheer presence. Eggsy broke out in a sweat, aware of his arousal with every thump of his heartbeat. It was a confusing mess of sensation, but he knew he wanted more. 

"Shush, now, lad. I know." Merlin didn't even look up, but he spoke in a low growl that did nothing to quell his embarrassment or his hunger.

"But...I'm so sorry..." Eggsy stammered, keeping himself still through sheer force of will. 

"Nae, none of that." Merlin did look up at that point, meeting Eggsy's eyes and holding them. "Just let it happen. Let it come. Feel every bit of it."

God. All Eggsy could do was as he was told, held immobilised by the tiniest of needles pushing through his skin. It became rhythmic, the sound of the tattoo gun far away with only Merlin's hand on him and the pain ever-present. Every so often, Merlin would use a towel to wipe away the blood so that he could see what he was doing, but even that fell into a rhythm.

He was being penetrated, one jab at a time as the ink was injected into his skin, the throb of his aching cock falling into lockstep with the ever present needle. It wasn't enough. He needed, with every fibre of his being, to feel Merlin on top of him, his cock opening him up, claiming him, taking him.

After a time that could have been forever or an hour, Merlin stopped. Eggsy whined at the back of his throat, immediately embarrassed that such a pathetic sound came from him. 

"Tis just a wee break, Gareth. For my hands, and for you. We're about half-finished." Merlin laid aside the tattoo gun carefully and wiped Eggsy's chest with a cloth doused in blissfully cool water. 

"Was I still enough? Am I doing this right?" Eggsy found himself craving Merlin's approval. Pathetic.

"Aye, lad. You're doing beautifully. I've had big biker blokes not able to stand being tattooed there." Merlin smiled, and while it wasn't a big grin, it still lit up his face. He was proud, Eggsy realised. 

"Can I get up for a bit, then?" Eggsy's arousal was fading to a background buzz, for which he was duly grateful. 

"Of course. Just take it nice and slow." Merlin curled one of those big hands around his shoulder and helped him sit up. Good thing, too, because Eggsy was suddenly lightheaded. He felt floaty and...amazing. Alive.

Eggsy swung his legs over the side of the table and took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and then he stood, feeling rather like a baby deer on ice. Merlin's grip on him didn't waver until the other man was certain Eggsy wasn't going to fall over. After releasing him, Merlin disappeared behind the curtain and came back with a glass of cool water. "Drink this up now."

Eggsy hadn't realised he was even thirsty till he took his first sip, but then he downed the whole glass. Maybe Merlin was like this with all his clients. And that's what he was, Eggsy reminded himself. A client.

Merlin looked him up and down, no doubt taking into account his half-hard cock trapped in his tight jeans, and shook his head slowly. "When we begin again, you're going to feel like you're letting go of something. It might frighten you, but trust me: let it happen. I'm here, and I won't let anything happen to you."

Eggsy blushed so deeply it was a miracle he didn't pass out from all the blood redistribution. "It's not normal, what I feel. Is it?"

"No. No, it's not. But just because it's normal doesn't mean it's bad." Merlin regarded him again, meeting and holding his eyes. "In fact, it's lovely."

Eggsy laughed breathily at that. "I guess I'm just glad you ain't offended."

"No. Never that." As if lost and wandering pop stars came into his shop and had confusing sexual awakenings under his needle every day. 

Still, as right as it felt to Eggsy, there was something still bothering him. "I sorta feel like I got you involved in somethin' that you didn't know you were getting yourself in for."

"Ah, you're worried about consent. I hate to tell you this, Gareth, but I knew you when you walked through my door." Merlin leaned into the words, penetrating Eggsy's personal space and causing his breath to whoosh out of his body.

"I...want more. I want...to kiss you." It came out before Eggsy could stop it. 

Merlin leaned in just a little more, pressed his forehead to Eggsy's, and cupped the side of his face with his hand. His thumb traced the outline of Eggsy's kissable lips, provoking a full-body shiver. "Oh, how I want to kiss you. I want to take you upstairs and break you open, find all those delicious secret places, make you howl for me." His voice was low and growly.

 _Yes, please please please._ "Then...do it?"

"Not tonight, lad. You're not in your right mind, and you're not the only one who cares about consent. Come back here tomorrow night, with a clear head, and I will do all those things and more." Merlin stroked his thumb over Eggsy's lips one last time and then pulled away slowly, regretfully.

Eggsy shivered and closed his eyes for a heartbeat to get his bearings. What had he expected? To meet a beautiful Scot and be whisked up to his bed the very first night? Well, yes, that's exactly what he was expecting because he ached for it. But how could he deny Merlin's nobility?

"You're right. But I will be here." He'd never been more thankful to have three whole days off from the tour. 

"I know," Merlin replied with a cheeky little smile. "Now, let's get you finished up so you can see what I've done."

Eggsy settled back into the chair and stilled his breathing as the whir of the tattoo gun fired back up. The first touch still sent him reeling, and within moments he was right back where he was, cock hard and sweat breaking out on his exposed skin. 

Then, just when Eggsy had relaxed into it, Merlin dragged the needle in a long arc, creating an outline. The pain spiked, and everything went grey at the edges. He felt like he was about to float away, only Merlin's hand holding him down. 

Remembering what Merlin said, he let go. He let the ineffable pleasure of it suffuse him, carry him away. He was dimly aware that he was moaning hoarsely from the sheer arousal of it, and he even more dimly wondered if he could and would come from this. The prospect of it didn't even embarrass him at this point. 

That release remained elusive, but Eggsy continued to float, the world a comfortable grey void. He lost track of time completely, so it was somewhat of a shock when he registered that the gun had stopped and been laid aside. Merlin never moved his hand from his chest. 

"All right, Gareth, we're done." Merlin cleaned the tattoo one more time, then put some cream on it. The little spikes of pain kept Eggsy floating somewhere around cloud nine. "Now, would you like to see?"

Eggsy nodded and Merlin helped him sit up, then stand to wobble over to the antique, wood-framed standing mirror. What he saw shocked him. It was an arch of exquisite vines and leaves, with a gnarled wooden door that was cracked open to show a wolf in shadow with deep blue eyes, mouth open in a snarl.

"You don't just want to be yourself, lad. You want to burst from your cage howling at the world." Merlin was standing behind him, his hands on Eggsy's broad shoulders. 

Eggsy leaned back against Merlin's solid warmth, trembling, and touched the wolf with a fingertip. "How did you know?" he whispered.

"I just did." A simple answer, almost evasive, but Eggsy didn't care. He'd been marked. It was perfect. And it was True.

"Thank you." It was paltry, but it was all Eggsy's addled brain could come up with.

"Nae, I should be thanking you. I needed to do something real. You'd be surprised how rare it is." Merlin squeezed his shoulders and put an arm around them, leading him back to the curtain, and into his office. There was a large, shabby-but-comfy sofa there, as well as many things that Eggsy didn't know or care to know about. Merlin was pulling him gently down onto the sofa and pulling him in close to his side.

"'S nice," Eggsy mumbled, turning his face and breathing in Merlin's scent. It was strong, woodsy and musky, and it made his mouth water.

"You flew so pretty for me tonight - I cannae just let you leave until I know you're back with me." Merlin snagged a blanket and wrapped it around Eggsy. The whole thing, all of it, all the dark thoughts of the evening and the revelations, made him shake almost uncontrollably. 

"Sh, sweet boy. You're here, and you're safe. I'll not be letting you go." Merlin kissed the top of his sweaty head and then his forehead. 

"Things are about to change. Forever." Eggsy knew it. He knew this was finally it, the fulcrum he'd been waiting for so that he could leverage his escape. 

"Good. Would you like to tell me about it?" It must be close to dawn outside the shop, but inside time seemed to stand still.

Eggsy opened his mouth to make some deprecation about how it's all very tedious and kind of silly and stupid and surely Merlin didn't want to hear all of it. What came out instead was the whole story. From his father's death to Dean and the beatings and Chester and the band. Confessing to being part of a boy band, much less one called, god help him, Tru2U, was harder than confessing to blowing Chester to be a part of it. He told Merlin about his mum and Daisy, and how everything he did, he did for them. It came out in a rush that he just couldn't control. 

Merlin took a few deep, calming breaths. "I would very much like to kill the men who hurt you." If that was supposed to put Eggsy off, it didn't work. "What do you want instead?"

"I want out. I want to make music - raw, honest, painful music. I want to scream. I want everyone to know what I am." Even if it meant the end of his career. He had more than enough money to live off of comfortably for the rest of his life if need be and he were careful, and he had a trust fund set up for Daisy as she got older. He'd accomplished what he'd set out to do.

"Then that's what you shall have." Merlin's arm tightened around him, and he reached out to cup Eggsy's chin and bring it up so their eyes could meet. Merlin's gaze was intense, focused. It made Eggsy believe.

The raw buzzing around his nerves had died down, as had the fuzziness in his head. There was not much to do about the hard cock, but no one had ever died of that. Or so he devoutly hoped. 

"I think you're back now." Merlin kissed his forehead again. "We should get you back to your bed. Call for a car, and I'll wait with you."

Eggsy fumbled with his mobile, managed the Uber app, and then got to his feet, feeling much steadier. "I can still come back tonight?"

Merlin rose and loomed over him. "You will come back tonight." He leaned in until his lips were so close to Eggsy's that he could practically taste them. "And when you do get back to your bed, I want you to think of me when you take your cock in hand. I want you to come with my name on your lips."

Oh dear _god_. "Are you as hard as I am right now?" he asked, voice strangled and thick with lust.

"Don't doubt it for a moment." Merlin stepped back, and Eggsy could see an impressive erection outlined by his jeans. 

The spell was broken when the car arrived. Eggsy shook his head and grinned. "See you tonight."

Merlin nodded, and Eggsy left the shop, praying the Uber driver didn't recognise him. It wasn't until they were halfway back to the hotel that Eggsy realised he hadn't paid for his tattoo, and Merlin had never even asked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggsy and Merlin find their path through the uncharted.

Eggsy could never remember being this turned on in his entire life. 

By the time he returned to the suite, the party had dissolved. Doubtless his two bandmates had their groupies of the night in their rooms, passed out as the sun started to rise through the haze. Eggsy just made for his room as fast as he could, dodging empty bottles and used poppers. It was tawdry, and it was cheap.

And he'd just experienced beauty and truth. 

Once inside his room, Eggsy put out the do not disturb sign and locked the door behind him. Breathing raggedly, he stripped down to skin and looked down at his angry, reddened prick, the tip leaking precome like a sieve. His balls were so full and tight against his body that he thought they might crawl right up inside.

This would be over moments after he touched his cock, but Eggsy wanted to make it last. There was a throb in his chest from the tattoo, still radiating pain that made his cock bob and jerk. Fuck. Merlin would want him to do better than two tugs before crying out his name.

That through propelled him forward onto the neatly-made bed, crawling on his hands and knees and stopping halfway up to spread them wide and arch his arse into the air. He felt so wonderfully exposed, and he imagined Merlin behind him, watching him beg with his body.

Groaning, Eggsy suckled two fingers into his mouth and made them nice and slick before pressing them to his hungry, greedy hole. It took next to no pressure to push them inside, and Eggsy's hips jerked at the sense of penetration. There was no point in imagining his fingers were Merlin's big cock, or even his long, dexterous fingers. So instead he turned his head and asked the Merlin who wasn't there, "Fuck, yessss...you like to watch me, don't you?"

Of course there was no answer, but that didn't stop Eggsy from pushing his fingers in as deeply as he possibly could. He moaned and precome dripped onto the nice, white duvet. "Nnngh, god, want you so bad. Can't you see?"

Again, no answer. Eggsy reluctantly slide his fingers out of his empty hole and rolled onto his back, keeping his legs nice and spread. There was only so much he could stand, though, and he wrapped his fist around his straining prick. "Fuck...oh, fuck."

Something niggled in the very back of his brain, and he found himself running the pad of his thumb over the tattoo. The jolt of pain, of the memory of Merlin giving him that pain, made him come so hard he saw stars. "Merlin! Oh god, yes, Merlin!"

Eggsy flopped bonelessly onto the duvet and stayed there for a long minute, realising that he was both covered in his own come, and that he'd just had the most intense orgasm of his life. His mind drifted, and he just knew, in his bones, that Merlin had just done the same thing in his bed, the bed that Eggsy would share in just a few, unbearably long hours.

Finally, he made himself scoot up enough in bed to get under the duvet and let his head hit the pillow. The late afternoon sun woke him with a growling and very sticky stomach. He tried to remember when he'd last eaten, and it must have been before the show, but he couldn't even recall what it was. 

It was like he felt new somehow, reborn and shiny. And sticky. Eggsy ordered a vast quantity of room service and told them to come in and leave it, before heading to take a shower. The hot water hit his fresh tattoo and the delicious pain came roaring back, leaving him hard as a rock under the spray. "Fuck...what've you done to me, Merlin?"

He was sliding his hand down his belly to take care of it when he stopped just beneath his navel. No. He was going to wait. It didn't matter how ravenous he was, he would wait for Merlin's touch, his mouth, his cock. 

Taking a deep breath, Eggsy concentrated instead of making himself squeaky clean, shoving soapy fingers as deeply as he could reach, making sure he smelled good. He very carefully washed the tattoo, and when he finally stepped from the shower, skin pink, he put some cream on it after towelling off. 

His food was waiting for him, and he detoured to snag his mobile before sitting down to devour it. With one hand, he texted Roxy.

//Got a tattoo. And I'm so gonna get laid tonight.//

It took all of seconds for his mobile to ding with a reply.

//No. Fucking. Way.//

Eggsy laughed and lifted up his shirt, sending her a pic of the new ink.

//You at least believe me about the tattoo now?//

This time, it took Roxy a while to respond. He could see the little dots that showed she was typing, but it still took a good long while.

//So. You're coming out then? Finally? When?//

She must have gone back and forth on a response for awhile before deciding on that one. Instead of texting back, he stopped eating long enough to hit her number for an actual phone call.

"Hey, Rox. How'd you guess?" Eggsy couldn't help but smile, even though his stomach turned over a bit at the thought of what coming out would entail.

"I always guess. You know that." Roxy paused. "Tell me what happened." He could practically hear her fingernails drumming on a tabletop in impatience.

"So after the show last night, I went out wanderin'. Christ, Rox, it felt like...I dunno. Like I was about to burst out of my skin. And then I turned a corner, and there was a tattoo parlor." He knew it sounded mad.

"So you just went in and said 'give me a wolf in a door with glowing eyes?' I think I have to say bullshit to that." 

"No, I went in and met this man. Fuck, Rox, this incredible man." Eggsy found his voice wavering a bit, so he cleared his throat. "Um...he asked me some questions, then he gave me that." 

"And this metaphor for coming out extends to fucking him?" Roxy asked warily. She was always so protective of him.

"We didn't fuck. That's...he said I wasn't clear headed enough to make a decision. Because..the really perverted part of all this..." Oh, how Roxy would laugh if she could see him blush. 

"Perverted? Oh my god, Mister Straight Arrow, please tell me how you've finally become a pervert like the rest of us." Her mouth was surely curling up at one corner the way it always did when when she just didn't know what to do with him.

"Rox, c'mon. This is weird. I just...liked the pain. Really, _really_ liked it. I was so turned on I thought I was gonna just die." His blush deepened. 

"So you're a masochist, are you? I suppose I should have seen that coming a mile away. And what did this incredible man do then? Does he have a name?" Now Roxy was heading into more familiar territory - teasing Eggsy.

"His name is Merlin." At her sudden laugh, he continued, tripping over his words. "No, really it is."

"He's a wizard." She was giggling now, a thing she only ever did with Eggsy. Public Roxy Morton was far too refined for such things. "I guess he must be! Because you seriously have it bad, love."

Eggsy paused for a moment. He surely had _something_. "He's just...really gorgeous and really hot. I'm not going to be that idiot who falls head over heels for the first guy he fucks."

"Mmm. Well, You did always want the fairy tale, didn't you? True love and all that shite." Roxy was more of the 'Miss Right Now' type, ruthlessly pragmatic. Must have been a side effect of watching her father go through so many wives and mistresses.

"Maybe. You always said that was stupid, though." But Roxy was right far more than she was wrong.

"I dunno, Eggsy. If anyone deserves it, you do." Her voice softened. "When are you going over there?"

From there, they discussed strategy and logistics. When was pathetically early? When was rudely late? Should he bring anything? How did this work? Eggsy was essentially clueless, except for what he'd seen in films. None of them covered this particular scenario.

After she rang off, he finished his late lunch and took out his guitar and notebook. In the back of his mind, he was trying to figure out how and when to come out to his Mum, and then how to do it to the world, but soon enough music carried him away. 

Eggsy was fiercely protective of the privacy of his music - it was the one thing that was his, and his alone. He'd have to get over that if he wanted to stand on a stage and sing out his own personal truth, but for right now, it was him, a notebook, and a guitar.

It was dark when he looked out of the windows again, surprised it was already eight and by how much progress he'd made on the music. But then the sense of panic set in, and he worried that he was somehow too late. He dressed in jeans and a jumper against the damp cold of an Edinburgh spring night, and then he ordered a car.

Everyone in the public eye as much as Eggsy quickly learned the best ways to slip out of a place unseen, and in this case it was the employee entrance down off the kitchens. He met his ride and gave the address, half-expecting Wizard Tattoo to have vanished somehow like a mirage in the desert to a man dying of thirst. But no, there it was, just as it had been the night before. 

Slipping out of the car, he stood for a long moment in front of the door. There were people in there, and it was Friday night. He felt the ever-present arousal grow in his belly, knowing Merlin was just there, right inside. All he had to do was go in. 

Gathering all his courage, Eggsy opened the door. Merlin was nowhere to be seen, and his station was dark, but there were two other artists working on clients and two more clients waiting, go through books of flash. One artist was a woman who looked in her mid-twenties, with vibrant, grass green wispy hair done up in a knot and wearing denim overalls with a singlet underneath. The other was a boy who barely looked old enough to drink, much less engrave permanent art on human skin. He was a pretty little thing, but Eggsy wasn't here for pretty.

He stood in the doorway, uncertain, for a long moment as he tried to stammer out a 'Could I see Merlin, please?' when the boy grinned and looked up from his client. "He's waiting in back."

Eggsy blushed and managed a mumbled 'thanks, mate' as he walked past, and for a disorienting moment he thought he saw the tips of pointed ears just barely peeking out from long hair. The boy seemed to notice his glance, because he snagged an elastic off his wrist and tied his hair up so his ears were covered.

Just his imagination, Eggsy decided, pushing apart the heavy curtain. He heard heavy boots on the stairs in the back of the room, and then Merlin was there, just as he'd been the night before, bigger than life somehow, like something out of the past, a folk tale or a very, very good dream. 

Eggsy was sure he looked like a deer in headlamps.

"You came." Maybe Merlin was stating the obvious, but there was a tinge of relief in those two words. "I very much hoped you would, Gareth."

That deep voice went right to Eggsy's balls, and he took a few steps toward Merlin. "Couldn't have kept me away if you wanted."

Merlin closed the distance between them in two long strides, big hands framing Eggsy's face as he leaned down to press their foreheads together. The touch was like a cliched electric jolt that Eggsy felt all the way down his spine. "Gods forbid I keep you away," he murmured into the small space between them.

"I want you so much it scares me," Eggsy confessed in a whisper. "Please kiss me."

There was the slightest hint of a tremor in Merlin's hands as he bent to the kiss, and Eggsy would have puzzled over it except that his first proper kiss was already making his toes curl in his shoes. Merlin's mouth was softer than he'd anticipated, but incredibly demanding. And when his tongue pressed forward into Eggsy's mouth, Eggsy suckled at it instinctively, then pressed his own against it. Sucking on Merlin's tongue felt like sucking on a live wire. 

Merlin growled low in his chest, not stopping the kiss as he gripped Eggsy's arse and lifted him right up until Eggsy wrapped his legs around his hips. The next thing he knew, he was up against a wall, his hard cock rubbing against Merlin's. 

He couldn't say how long that kiss lasted, but by the time Merlin let him up for air he was gasping rutting his hips up mindlessly. "Never fear me, sweet boy," Merlin said softly. "And never beg me. Take what you want."

The words were barely past Merlin's lips before Eggsy pressed in for another kiss. His hands slid over Merlin's bald head and he crossed his arms behind Merlin's neck, strong legs digging in tightly around his hips. It was open-mouthed and filthy and pure, white-hot pleasure. 

"Like that?" Eggsy said, mouth slick against Merlin's lips and cock spurting precome in his jeans. 

"Just like that," Merlin growled. "Now I'm going to take you upstairs and break you open on my cock."

"Oh fuck...yeah. YES." Eggsy squirmed until Merlin let him down, and when the older man took his hand and led him up the wooden stairs everything felt just right in his world for the first time. Following a virtual stranger into the unknown was the most right thing he'd ever done.

Merlin's living space was one big loft, exposed brick and wood floors and very strange decor. But really, all Eggsy actually saw was the big bed covered in furs (furs?!) and Merlin's broad back as he impatiently stripped off his tee shirt. 

Even through the fog of lust, he couldn't help but notice the markings down Merlin's spine. They weren't tattoos (although there were plenty of those), and Eggsy couldn't quite clock what they were, even when he reached out and dragged his fingers up them gently. 

"Brands," Merlin offered, turning to him and reaching down to tug off his jumper. "Gods, you're beautiful."

Eggsy took a deep breath and toed off his trainers and socks, then unbuckled and unzipped his jeans, working them down and off along with his underwear. Standing before Merlin naked and hard was so deliciously arousing he was afraid he was going to come right then and there. He had no idea what to do with his hands, so he left them hanging loosely by his sides.

"Fuck, boy..." Merlin seemed to have devolved into single syllables spoken in a growl, and Eggsy couldn't have been happier about it.

"You...I want to see you." Eggsy remembered - take what you want - and stepped in curl his fingers into the leather of Merlin's belt, pulling it loose and unbuckling it, hands only shaking a little. "I want...I want to suck your cock." Wipe out those horrible memories of the act and re-record brand new ones. 

Merlin took his hands and moved them out of the way, jerking open the button and yanking down his zip. Eggsy wasn't surprised that he wasn't wearing anything beneath, but oh god, the cock that sprang free made his empty hole clench and his mouth water. Merlin was almost obscenely big, thick and long, with a pronounced, exposed head dark red with blood and pierced with a weighty barbell. 

"You like." Merlin's growl was pleased - Eggsy felt just that. Pleased, and already understanding just how well that gorgeous cock was going to pleasure him. 

"Gonna show you how much." Eggsy dropped to his knees and took the base of Merlin's cock in hand, squeezing the aching flesh just to feel it pulse. There was no way he'd be able to take it all down his throat, but god, he wanted to eat the man alive.

Merlin cried out raggedly at the first hot swipe of Eggsy's tongue across the head of his prick, both hands sliding into Eggsy's hair and tugging. Not forcing, just pulling at the root enough to ache that little bit more and make Eggsy's cock jerk in response. 

With a hoarse moan, Eggsy swallowed as much of Merlin's shaft as he could before gagging himself, pulling up and off with his lips a mess of spit and precome. The barbell ached so perfectly against the back of his throat, and soon he found a rhythm, stroking the length of Merlin's cock that just didn't fit in his mouth.

"Shit, lad...fuck, c'mere," Merlin pulled Eggsy off his cock and urged him to his feet and right into another kiss. "You feel too good." 

"Wanna learn to take you all the way in," Eggsy said, voice hoarse and ragged.

"And I want to crawl inside you and never come out." Merlin's voice was just as ragged, without the excuse of sucking cock.

That was just enough. Enough. Eggsy moaned and broke from Merlin's death grip on him to crawl up on the bed, spreading his thighs and arching his back only this time, Merlin was really there to watch him.

"Gareth..." Eggsy heard Merlin moving and looked back to see him crossing the few steps to the bed, cock slick with spit and bobbing with every movement. Merlin put his hands on the globes of Eggsy's arse and pulled him open. "You're fucking perfect."

Eggsy felt exposed, no doubt about it, but it was a delicious sort of shivery feeling. He had no secrets from this man, nor did he want to have any. When Merlin covered his body with his own and bit down at the base of his neck, Eggsy bucked his hips and very nearly came on the spot. "Merlin!"

"Shhh, sweet, soon enough." Merlin then proceeded to bite all the way down his spine, little nips and long, sucking presses of teeth, until he reached the divot at the base. Each one made Eggsy feel like he was going to fly, to come unmoored. 

The first wet swipe of Merlin's tongue across his hole made his breath catch in his chest. Nothing had ever felt quite so good. It was so good he had no idea what to even do with himself, so he just let his limber hips unfold, sliding sensually across the soft furs until his cock was pressed against them and his hungry pucker was stretched open for Merlin.

He felt Merlin's growl against tender flesh and clutched his splayed fingers in the furs. Merlin pressed his tongue slowly inside and fucked him with it, and it felt so good, so right that Eggsy was instantly addicted. 

Merlin kept at his hole for what felt like forever, fucking him for a tantalizingly short time before pulling out to lick and suck at the rim until Eggsy was a sweating, shivering mess beneath him. Nothing should feel _this_ perfectly, obscenely good. 

When Merlin finally pulled away, Eggsy was left achingly empty and grasping after him. "Here, Gareth...here." Merlin flipped him onto his back and leaned in, covering his body to kiss him again, hard and deep. Somehow, he still managed to snag a small ceramic pot off the side table while Eggsy was grinding his cock against his and cursing in filthy words beneath him.

The next thing Eggsy knew, one of those long, dexterous fingers was pushing inside his empty pucker. It went in with surprising ease, and Eggsy writhed with the man's substantial weight atop him. Maybe he should feel smothered or trapped or something equally ridiculous, but he fucking loved this. Sweat and the smell of sex and an earthy, herbal scent from whatever it was Merlin was using to slick him up, to open him up.

"Ah, fuck...want your cock, Merlin," he managed with what little breath he had left in him. 

Merlin just growled and ground his teeth, pushing in a second finger and then a third, his body shaking because, miracle of miracles, he wanted Eggsy as much as Eggsy wanted him. Eggsy had no idea how he knew that, but he did. This wasn't a simple hook-up, and Merlin was not some easy one-off looking for a bit of fun. He was _present_ in a way that was powerful and strong. 

"Enough...it's enough." Eggsy splayed his hands to either side of Merlin's face and looked him fiercely in the eyes. "Not gonna hurt me, yeah?"

Merlin's eyes were lust-dark and foggy, and he just managed a nod before pulling out his fingers and settling into the cradle of Eggsy's hips. Something about having him there felt primal and _right_ , and Eggsy reached down to grip his firm arse and pull him even closer. 

The first thrust was slow, hot flesh entering him inch by inexorable inch until Eggsy could feel Merlin's heavy balls flush against his arse. So this was it. And it was like coming home.

Merlin's eyes flew fully open then, and he looked down in wonder at Eggsy. He felt hotter, and when Eggsy ran his hands up Merlin's back, he felt a heat that bordered on burning. Before Eggsy could form words enough to ask what it was, Merlin was moving, finding a rhythm that was deep, hot, like heartbeats and pumping blood and bonfires on a hillside in chill midwinter.

The world might be a cold and unforgiving place, but Eggsy felt warm to the core.

After a few slow thrusts, Merlin brushed against Eggsy's prostate, and he arched up and howled, good and proper, at the fresh rush of blinding pleasure. The initial burn had faded; he felt full and oh god, he also felt that barbell rubbing over his sweet spot. He was hurtling toward orgasm, and determined to bring Merlin right over the edge with him by squeezing down around his cock as tightly as he could. 

"Merlin..." It was all Eggsy could get past his lips before they opened in a throaty howl and his climax scoured through him, driving him up against Merlin's body like he could somehow get even closer, shove them messily into one person, one entity. 

Merlin gasped and buried his face in Eggsy's sweaty neck, sealing them together as his own orgasm took him, broke him, and remade him again. His low, breaking moans were surprisingly quiet, but the way he was shaking left no doubt in Eggsy's mind that Merlin was tearing apart at the seams just like he was.

Eggsy greyed out for a long span of moments, and when he finally came round again Merlin was pressing their foreheads together. Messy, confusing images floated around his mind - times long gone but not forgotten, never forgotten. Deep woods and strange things deep within them, with teeth and claws and endless mercy. 

That's what this felt like. It felt like mercy.

And goddamnit, he was not going to fall in love. Never mind that he already had. It would stay his own secret for now, a precious spark to feed the bonfire that consumed them both. 

Moving heavy arms, he encircled Merlin's bigger body, and again he felt the heat coming from Merlin's back. They were both hot, sticky and sweaty, but Merlin was burning up. "S' wrong?" he slurred.

"Nothing, aon gaoil. Nothing." Merlin kissed him, slow and sweet, as he carefully pulled out of Eggsy and moved to take him into his arms. Eggsy fell into a natural position splayed across Merlin's broad chest, with those strong arms around him. 

"Is it always like that?" Sex in general, sex with Merlin, just...sex. Did it always flay you to the bone and put you back together?

"Nae, it's not." Merlin stroked Eggsy's sweaty hair, and Eggsy let himself drift away to dreams that were full of fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "aon gaoil" = "dearest one"


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin and Eggsy have The Talk. And they still can't keep their hands off each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a minute, y'all.

Eggsy woke slowly, the loft still dark save for candlelight. Merlin was still wrapped around him in a death grip, so he had no idea how the man had extricated himself to light them. No matter, really. The fire was very nice, indeed. 

He splayed out his hand against Merlin's chest, breathing in his scent and feeling his heartbeat, strong and steady. Maybe it was normal to still feel tingly and energized from a good fuck, but he was starting to doubt it. Something was going on here, something different. He wanted more.

Lifting his face up from its comfortable resting place was a bit of a challenge, but Eggsy managed to lean up and bite lightly at the side of Merlin's stubbly jaw, following it with a long lick down Merlin's neck. Fuck, he tasted wonderful. 

His hand headed south as if unbidden, but he stopped just short of Merlin's cock, waiting for him to open his eyes on a long, lazy moan. "What are ye doing, sweet boy?" His accent was thick, his voice hoarse. 

"I want you again. Yeah?" Eggsy leaned back up for a kiss, just a slow, sweet press of lips before letting Merlin actually answer the question.

"Oh yes. I've been thinking about watching you ride my cock." The moment the 'yes' left his lips, Eggsy gripped Merlin's prick and started stroking, gratified at the way the heavy shaft felt in his hand. 

"Fuck yeah, Merlin." Sitting down onto that satisfying spear of flesh and blood and feeling it fill him up, fucking himself on it? _God_ yes, in fact. Eggsy didn't stop stroking, firm and slow, while he used his other hand to find that little flip-top ceramic jar. "Gonna make myself ready for you. Already feel how open and slick I still am." 

Merlin moaned and bucked up into Eggsy's fist. "Turn around and let me watch." 

Christ, Eggsy might not have had that fantasy for a long time, but he still hastened to make it happen, and happen now. He turned around on the bed and spread his thighs so Merlin could see good and proper when he pushed two slicked up fingers inside him. 

Merlin made a strangled noise behind him, and Eggsy laughed softly. "Like what you see? D'you want to get back inside here?"

"Wanna stay inside there," Merlin answered. "Ye can take three. Spread yourself open for me."

Eggsy's low laugh caught on a whimper, and he did just as Merlin asked, splaying out his delving fingers as much as he could inside his tight little hole. It was maddening, but Eggsy was a little surprised he didn't feel the least bit of shame or embarrassment at showing Merlin how much he was wanted.

Soon, it was just too much - listening to Merlin's heavy breath behind him, his own fingers moving inside himself with a growing urgency - and he pulled them out and turned back to face Merlin. 

Somehow, somewhere, Merlin had reached for and found something he now dangled between his fingers. "Been neglectin' ye."

"Fuck, hardly." Eggsy found enough sense in his lust-fogged brain to be curious, but not so much that he stopped his slippery hand from stroking the lube onto Merlin's cock. 

"Mmm, I have. Straddle me." 

Eggsy crawled over and complied, groaning when the tip of Merlin's cock just barely touched his stretched-out pucker. "You want?" Merlin murmured, holding up a pair of wicked-looking clamps attached by a thick, silvery chain. 

"Oh, fuck..." He ran his fingers over his already-hard little nipples, pinching them and gasping and dripping precome onto Merlin's belly. "I want."

Merlin reached up and opened the jaws of one clamp, closing it slowly down around Eggsy's nipple, watching his face to make sure it wasn't too much. Eggsy knew that Merlin wasn't babying him - these clamps were the serious business kind. 

The second the clamp bit into his nipple he had to brace himself, hands wide against Merlin's chest, breath coming in short, sharp bursts. Little explosions were going off in his head, and he felt the jolt of it all the way down to the base of his spine. The other clamp eased in a moment later, and he looked down to find Merlin watching him almost worshipfully. 

"How are you so fucking perfect?" Merlin asked him, fingertips playing around the clamped nipples, flicking at them, then tugging lightly at the chain. Every movement cause the newly-formed live wire between his nipples and his balls to scream. 

"Because you are," Eggsy slurred, letting slip with those three words more than he'd planned to. But what was the point in pretending that Eggsy would be like this with any random bloke he picked up? Because this was Eggsy stripped down to the bone, and it was all because of Merlin.

Merlin's eyes fluttered closed for a brief moment, and then he nudged up with his cock. They may not say 'please' or beg, but it was pretty much the same thing. 

Eggsy looked down on him, needing him, hungering for him, and sank right down on Merlin's rock-hard cock. "Oh my fucking god..." 

It felt like Merlin was going to come right up the back of his throat, he was so deep. And when he found the sense to start moving, the nipple clamps moved with him and he felt his vision swim a little. Thankfully, Merlin's strong hands where there, squeezing and holding his hips, giving him the sense of security he needed.

"That's it, aon gaiol, fuck, that's it. I've got ye, won't let ye fall," Those words sounded like mercy, too, like something ancient and powerful was watching over him, protecting him, leaving him free to do nothing but feel. Feel the connection between them, the rhythm they were setting, the shivering pain of the clamps. 

Eggsy locked eyes with Merlin, and the burning intensity he found there was almost frightening. Or at least it would be, had Eggsy not been feeling the exact same thing. They were in sync, the world and its troubles and its prejudices falling away to nothing. 

Then he found the perfect angle, Merlin's cock rubbing right up against his prostate, and he rooted down on it. Merlin's eyes were still on his, and he murmured something in a language that didn't even sound like Gaelic, at least to Eggsy's untutored ear. 

Merlin was trembling, obviously trying to stave off his own climax until Eggsy was good and done with him. He reached up and took the chain in his hand, and pulled on it firmly, causing the clamps to bite hard into Eggsy's nipples. 

Eggsy's world went grey at the edges, and he felt like he was going to fly away and at the same time like he was rooted in the very earth itself. The orgasm was almost secondary to that, except that it scoured through him like a rush of flame. His mouth opened on a silent scream, and Merlin gripped him tight and lowered him to his chest as pushed inside one more time and let go, filling Eggsy up so very nicely.

When it was past, Eggsy was dimly aware of Merlin gently removing the clamps, before snugging him even tighter into his chest and pulling up the furs to cover his sudden shivers. "That's it, sweet one. Oh, I've got ye."

Eggsy lay floating in a cloud of endorphins so thick you could probably cut it with a knife. Oh, this was too perfect, too good. He let Merlin coddle him, drowning in their scent, whimpering when Merin eased out of him. 

When he finally could form words again, he whispered, "You're like magic."

Merlin stilled for a moment. "Ye don't believe in magic, do ye?"

"Startin' to wonder." Eggsy lifted his head and met Merln's eyes. They were unreadable. "You're burnin' up again."

"Aye...but dinnae ye worry yourself about it." Merlin clearly wanted to evade the line of questioning. 

That was his right, after all. He'd explain or not, but Eggsy didn't have the right to pry. His mind swam through the thought process like he was underwater with weights attached to his legs. 

He just nodded, then nodded off, barely aware when Merlin moved him onto his side and curled up around him protectively. Maybe that wasn't what Merlin intended, but it was how Eggsy felt. 

The sun was slanting in through the drapes when Eggsy finally pried apart his eyelids. Merlin stirred when he did, turning his head back for a slow, lazy kiss. 

At least, Eggsy figured, it wasn't like Merlin was tossing him out on his arse in the morning, right? In fact, it seemed like Merlin wasn't too interested in doing anything but kissing him breathless.

When he let Eggsy up for air at last, he murmured, "We need to talk. But first, tea."

Merlin slid naked out of bed after untangling himself from Eggsy, and Eggsy turned over to observe the man in his natural habitat. He was busying himself in the kitchen with the kettle and tea, so Eggsy sat up. Considering the night's events, he was a bit surprised he wasn't terribly sore.

The loft space was dominated by an assortment of wildlife photos from all over the world, as well as wilderness landscapes. They were striking - even Eggsy's untutored eye could tell they were exquisite. The wilderness photos were all of Northern forest and bleak moors - lonely places, and yet the photographer found the perfect moment to capture its unique beauty. Genius type of stuff, so that meant...

"Merlin, are these your pictures?" Eggsy got to his feet and only wobbled a little bit. 

"Aye. That's what I do. I go to lonely places and try to make them beautiful. And I document species on the verge of extinction." Merlin's hands were busy, but he couldn't seem to keep his eyes off Eggsy. 

"That's got to be a bit depressing, yeah?" Necessary work, certainly, but Eggsy found that the thought of Merlin in any kind of distress was upsetting.

"Oh, aye - more than a bit," Merlin shrugged and handed a mug of tea to Eggsy. Milk and no sugar, just like he liked it. Eggsy wasn't even surprised at this point. "I just keep telling myself that at least no one would ever forget them."

"I don't have any kinda eye, and even I can tell that you're brilliant." Eggsy deftly (he hoped) steered the topic away from sad stories about dying animals. Although, Eggsy thought, he would bet he could write a hell of a song about it. 

"Tch. I was blessed with luck and perseverance," Merlin demurred. "The rest is just stuff anyone can learn to do."

"Yeah, right. Pull the other one." Eggsy grinned and came around the kitchen counter, setting down his mug of tea and pressing up close to Merlin, skin to skin. He could feel Merlin's cock twitch against his hip, and grinned even wider.

"I can think of better things to pull than your leg," Merlin growled, pushing aside his own tea mug so he could pick Eggsy up and set him down on the polished wood counter. 

Eggsy's thighs parted wide and then he felt Merlin's kiss like a fist to his gut. His cock went rock hard when Merlin first manhandled him onto the counter, but now all he could think about was wantonly rubbing himself against Merlin's belly. 

When Merlin broke the kiss it was a shock to his system, never mind the big hands holding his hips hard in place. "What...no," Eggsy whined. 

"We need to talk before we fuck again." Merlin took a reluctant step back, and Eggsy was oddly gratified that Merlin was as turned on right now as he was. "Tis the light of day, and some things must be said. You know this." 

Why was it so bloody hot when Merlin got all stern? Eggsy figured he should say something profound, but all he managed was, "Yeah, but then we fuck again."

"That's going to be entirely up to you, Gareth." Merlin paused. "Maybe we should put some pants on, just to be on the safe side, though."

Eggsy had to laugh, but he went and bent over (at a perfect angle for Merlin to see, of course) to fish his underwear out of the pile. He heard Merlin's groan as he walked to the drawers and took out a pair of soft, worn boxers. 

Merlin took a seat on the sofa, and Eggsy followed suit. There was a little distance between them, and they cradled their mugs of tea in nervous hands. Whatever Merlin had to say to him, Eggsy was sure that when he was done with his own story, the man would want nothing to do with him.

"I'm trying to figure out where to start," Merlin said, gripping his mug tightly. 

"Is it about the candles and the clamps?" Eggsy asked, voice soft. "And your back?"

"Aye." Apparently, Merlin just decided to do it, to say it. "Magic is real. I'm a wizard."

Eggsy supposed that a normal person would bolt for the door, but he stayed rooted in place while his reality spun around him. Strangely, he believed Merlin down to the marrow of his bones, but his mind soon fixated. He'd grown up in a grey place, preyed upon and desperate. His whole world had been nothing but a shadow until....until the moment he'd met Merlin.

"Where were you? Where was magic when I needed it the most?" Eggsy murmured, feeling tears welling.

Merlin took the words like they physically pained him. "There are so very few of us, Gareth. So very little magic left in this world. And I...I have been searching for you for longer than you've been alive. I didn't even think you could be real."

"But what _am_ to you? Why me?"Eggsy shook his head. "I'm probably the worst person in the world for you to fall for."

"Fall for...Eggsy, yes, but it's so much more than that. You're the one I've been seeking for more years than you can imagine. You're my other, you're half of my soul." Merlin's voice was thick with emotions even he couldn't process. "I stayed awake all night, watching you sleep, and argued with myself over even telling you this."

"Why wouldn't you?" Eggsy's tears had dissipated, disappeared like dew in the sun. 

"Yer so very young, you see. You have a bright future, and I didn't want to saddle you with all this." Merlin made as if to reach out and touch Eggsy, but he pulled back. "But the gods put you in my path, gave you to me, and it felt like mercy. I am weak."

"You ain't weak," Eggsy said vehemently. "I may not know anything about magic, but you' ain't weak."

"It's too much of a burden. I am old, Gareth. So very old." Merlin paused, collecting his words. "But you do have the gift. I'm certain of it. It's another reason I decided to tell you. You deserve to know, whether you choose to stay or not."

"You're saying I have magic?" To Eggsy, it was almost as incomprehensible as hearing he'd grown a third arm.

"Oh, aye. It roils off you. Not sure what kind yet, but it's there. And I can help you grow it. If you wish. If you decide to stay." Merlin did reach out then, taking Eggsy's tea and setting it on the table so he could gingerly take one of his hands. 

Eggsy looked down at their intertwined fingers and couldn't help but notice the contrast - Merlin's hands were so large, his fingers so long, and his own hand was so square, so workman-like, guitar calluses roughening them. He extricated his fingers and turned his hand so it was pressed flat to Merlin's. "Show me."

Merlin cupped his palm, raised it to his lips and said something softly into the closed space. Eggsy was no expert, but it didn't sound like Gaelic to him. His puzzlement lasted only a moment, because there was a green light emanating from Merlin's palm. Merlin slowly opened his fist and turned it flat, revealing to Eggsy the small creature cradled inside. 

"Say hello to an infant dryad," Merlin whispered softly. The tiny figure fussed a bit in his palm, but quieted quickly when Merlin rubbed its little belly. It looked almost human except for the pointed ears, excessively long fingers and the wee acorn cap it was wearing. 

Eggsy felt the smile on his face stretch from ear to ear, and his eyes lit up with delight. "Hello, little one." He turned those pretty, shining eyes up to Merlin's. "Can I touch?"

"You may. Just be as gentle as you would be with dandelion fluff." Merlin held out his cupped palm, and Eggsy rubbed its belly just like Merlin had. Only this time, the baby dryad clamped its fingers around Eggsy's pointer finger and cooed softly. 

"She likes you." Merlin's smile was almost as broad as Eggsy's. 

"Where's her mum?" Eggsy kept gently tickling the tiny creature, amazed that no matter the baby the same things worked to keep them happy. 

"She's waiting. I asked her if we could play with the baby," Merlin's eyes unfocused a bit, and he nodded to someone Eggsy couldn't see. "She would like her back now, though. Our big hands make her nervous."

"Can't say as I blame her," Eggsy murmured softly, withdrawing his finger and making shushing sounds when the baby started fussing again. He watched in amazement as Merlin carefully closed his hands, the green light glowed again, and when he opened them they were empty.

Eggsy looked up at Merlin, a huge grin plastered across his face. "That was beautiful."

"Magic isn't always beautiful, love." Merlin shook his head. "Sometimes it's messy and artless and cruel." He paused. "I was cursed."

"Cursed? With what?" Eggsy couldn't imagine anyone wanting to do Merlin harm.

"When a magician dies, they have just a moment to set off their final spell. It takes the rest of their life force, but it will always be powerful. I defeated a very evil woman, and she used her final spell to curse me. The brands appeared on my back, and I was cursed to wander the earth alone until I met the one person who could make them burn." It was a hell of a bomb to drop into the conversation.

"And I...cured you? What does that even mean?" Eggsy wasn't sure how he felt about this - he'd gone and legitimately fallen in love. What if all Merlin saw him as was a means to an end?

"It means that now I can grow old with the man I love. Wizards grow old slowly, but I will grow old in time." 'With you' went unspoken.

Eggsy sat in stunned silence for a moment, then he reached out and cupped Merlin's cheek. "I...I would like that very much. But I haven't told you my side yet. You might just change your mind."

"I won't, but I want to hear everything you have to say." Merlin leaned into Eggsy's hand, half-closing his eyes as Eggsy rubbed at his sharp cheekbone with his thumb.

"Well, for starters, there's the paparazzi. They have a way of finding you, no matter how hard you try to avoid them. I even have to use an encrypted texting program to talk to my best friend, and I'll have to use it to text you, too. In case they're bugging my mobile." Eggsy sat back, hand slipping from Merlin's face reluctantly.

"They can do that?" Merlin might be a fair hand at modern technology, but it would never be his strong suit.

"Oh yeah. And then there's the rest of the tour - I'm under contract to finish this tour, but then it's up for renewal and I can quit. The tour goes to the Nordics next, then to Germany, France and Italy. If I violate the 'morals' code of my contract by coming out before the tour is done..." Eggsy shrugged. He'd be a world of trouble. 

"When do you leave?" Merlin asked softly.

"Tomorrow night. But I can't let my Mum and Daisy find out about me from a news conference. I want to see them tomorrow, and I want you to come with me." He bit his lip, waiting anxiously for Merlin's reaction.

"You're sure?" At Eggsy's nod, he continued. "I would be honoured to meet your family. What about your best friend?"

"Well, she already knows I'm coming out, and that I was coming here last night, but I can ask her to meet us up at the house. Oh, shit!" Eggsy scrambled up from the sofa and fetched his mobile from his jeans. Fifteen unread texts from Roxy - oh, he was in the doghouse for sure. 

"Sorry, she's been worried sick and I totally forgot to text her that I'm still alive." Eggsy shot Merlin a grin.

//Rox, shit, I'm so fucking sorry. I'm fine. Everything's fine.//

//Jesus, you little fucker. I'm glad you're ok though.//

//Way better than okay. Come to the house tomorrow morning? Want you to meet him.//

//The man, the myth, the legendary magic dick? How can I refuse?//

//Rox! Ok, so yeah, it's a little like that, but it ain't no legend. See you there?//

//Wouldn't miss it. You little shit.//

//Love you too, Rox. XOXO.//

He put the mobile away on the table and turned to face Merlin again. "Sorry about that - she worries. Especially since this was...my first time and all." 

"It's good that you have someone to worry after you." Merlin moved closer, leaned in and nuzzled at Eggsy's neck. The shivers from that lightest of touches made the hair on the back of Eggsy's neck stand up. "Do you have any more dire pronouncements for me?"

"They...they'll find out about you. They'll, oh god yeah, put you under a microscope. I won't be able to stop it." Eggsy tipped his head back, and let Merlin have all the access he wanted.

"My mortal identity is ironclad. I'm Merlin MacGregor, award-winning nature photographer. And you forget one thing." Merlin bit firmly at the join of Eggsy's shoulder and neck. 

Eggsy whimpered, trying to focus on the obvious question while his cock filled so fast it made it head spin. "What...fuck...what am I forgetting?"

"We have magic on our side." Merlin bit once more, hard enough to leave a bruise, and then he claimed Eggsy's mouth in a hot, open-mouthed kiss that wasn't flirting with desperation - it was full of desperation. 

So desperate that Eggsy pulled back from the kiss just enough to pant, "What do you want, Merlin?"

In response, Merlin slid his hand down Eggsy's belly to cup and squeeze his erection through the thin fabric of his underwear. Eggsy gasped. "Oh? You...you want to fuck me?" As if he even had to ask at this stage.

"I want to suck this gorgeous cock and then feel it inside me," Merlin murmured, voice thick again as he moved his head to the other side of Eggsy's shoulder and bit down just as hard. "Want you to wear my marks."

Eggsy shuddered and almost came in his pants. "You...oh god. Take what you want, remember?" He'd never have imagined being the one to fuck Merlin, and that said something about power and control and domination that was impossible to focus on right now. 

Merlin's eyes lit with a feral joy as he slithered down between Eggsy's strong thighs, gripping the top of his underwear and pulling them down until his aching cock was freed to spring up against his belly. That was apparently not good enough for the other man, because he dug his nails into the flimsy material and just ripped them right off Eggsy's hips. He yanked the offending shreds away, leaving Eggsy utterly bare. 

Before Eggsy could even draw another shaky breath, he was crying out at the first engulfing mouth he'd ever felt surrounding his prick. Looking down at Merlin, watching him so obviously relishing sucking him off, was the hottest thing he'd ever seen. His balls drew up high and tight against his body as he hurtled toward orgasm with an embarrassing quickness.

Just before he could come, Merlin pulled off and tugged him down till his arse was off the sofa. Eggsy cried out in protest just before Merlin bit him again, unforgivingly, just inside his right thigh where the flesh was softest. 

Eggsy was so caught up in the pleasure of that stinging, suckling bite that he barely registered the second, the third, and then the fourth distributed evenly on both thighs. It was like one eternal circuit of pain and pleasure that shorted him out completely. By the time Merlin engulfed his cock again, he was whimpering and shoving his hips messily up, fucking Merlin's mouth mindlessly and gripping hard at his shoulders.

Merlin went with the rhythm, matching it, letting Eggsy push down into his throat and breathing through his nose. There would be time later for art - this was about so much more. Eggsy made an inhuman noise when he came, and Merlin timed it perfectly with two hard slaps to his arse, each hard enough to leave a red mark in the shape of his palm.

Just when he thought it would go on forever, the last wave passed and Eggsy slumped back on the sofa, a glorious mess reaching blindly for his lover. Merlin crawled up and into Eggsy's lap, curling himself small enough to fit and taking his head between his two big hands. 

"Good?" he asked softly.

All Eggsy could do was nod and whimper when Merlin pressed his thumbs into the bites on his shoulders, kissing him and sharing a taste. Good? God, Eggsy felt so fucking good it shouldn't be humanly possible. 

"Knew you were magic," Eggsy mumbled against the side of Merlin's face.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggsy and Merlin continue to explore their burgeoning relationship, and Eggsy comes to terms with his magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll get them out of bed eventually. Just not in this chapter.

Eggsy could feel how hard Merlin was against his hip, and then he remembered the second wish Merlin had. 

"God, you feel good," Eggsy murmured, reaching down to free Merlin's cock from his boxers, wrapping a hand around the stiff flesh and stroking firmly. 

Merlin moaned, and showed what was obviously great restraint by stopping Eggsy's hand. "It...You need to eat something. And hydrate. We both do." 

Eggsy whined, but he stopped and looked up at Merlin from under his lashes. "Well, I know what I want to eat," he purred, eyes flashing mischievously.

"Nngh, Gareth, let me at least try to be responsible. I'm not going to die from having an erection," Merlin said, prim and adorable.

"Oh, I know. Doesn't mean that I wanna let go of you." But he did, reaching up to stroke Merlin's head instead. 

"Mmm. How about breakfast for now? I don't have much in, but I should be able to scare something up. I suppose going down to the cafe round the block is out of the question?" Merlin asked.

"Well. I mean, I don't care who sees me with you, but it'd mean outing myself when someone eventually takes a pic and posts it on Instagram. Although I suppose we could be good. Just pals." Eggsy's lips quirked.

"Pals?" Merlin laughed "I guess we could try that, at least until you come out officially. I could probably keep my hands off you for half an hour."

"That makes one of us," Eggsy teased. "But yeah, I could manage, if I could keep the stars out of my eyes."

Merlin stroked his thumbs under Eggsy's pretty eyes. "I like the stars." He had his own galaxy of stars, after all. 

"Let's try. If it goes wrong, or it's too hard, we can come back here and eat toast." Eggsy took a look at himself and laughed. "Shower first, though."

"Aye, we smell like a couple of rutting goats." Merlin levered himself off Eggsy's lap and managed to get to his feet. 

"Now for the most important question - shower separately or together?" Eggsy grinned and reached out to cup Merlin's half-hard cock before playing teasingly at the waistband, tugging it down a little. 

"You're like a kid in a candy shop," Merlin scolded gently.

"What? I just want to suck you off." Eggsy laughed. "Still determined to get you all the way into my throat."

"Gods...your determination is admirable, but if we start down this road I don't want it to end without you inside me." Merlin didn't stop Eggsy, just looked down at him, patiently waiting to see what he would do.

Eggsy laughed even harder when his stomach picked that point to rumble loudly. "Well, I guess I'll just have to wait a little while to practice."

Merlin smiled and reached down to cup the side of his face. "Your newfound enthusiasm for life is something to behold. Now...go clean yourself. There's plenty of hot water. I don't exactly own shampoo, but you can use the soap in there for your hair. It's gentle - I make it myself."

"Of course you do." Eggsy got to his feet and leaned up to kiss Merlin. "What about borrowing your toothbrush? Disgusting, or not?"

"Considering what we've just been through, I would say perfectly fine." Merlin pulled away regretfully and stood out of Eggsy's way so he could actually make it to the bathroom, delivering a playful swat at his arse on the way past. 

"Oi. Start with that, and this day's gonna turn out a lot differently than you planned." Eggsy gave him a mischievous look before making it to the bathroom. Once inside, he relieved himself, used Merlin's toothbrush and then washed himself clean. 

In the shower, he imagined that his soapy hands running over his somewhat bruised and bitten body were Merlin's, and his cock started to rise again. "Really?" he asked it, staring down at the disobedient body part. "Give it a rest already."

When he was done, he stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off, walking naked into the bedroom area to fetch his clothes. He felt the weight of Merlin's stare on him, and turned to face him. "Like what you see or something?"

Even given the circumstances, he was unprepared for the naked hunger in Merlin's eyes. "I was just thinking about how much I want to mark all that pretty skin. Make you fly for me."

Eggsy shivered and met his eyes. "You want all the things, don't you?"

Merlin moved across the space with a suddenness that left Eggsy a little dizzy, but then the man was leaning down and growling low right into his ear. " _Everything._ "

"Then get on the fucking bed." Somehow, somewhere, Eggsy had learned to growl right back at him. 

Merlin's struggle was palpable - responsible or hedonistic? Eggsy might be hungry, but this one decision was easy. He shoved at Merlin's bigger body until the backs of his long legs hit the edge of the bed and he sprawled back onto it. 

What a feast for the eyes. So tall, so strong, able to break him in two, and here he was spreading his thighs, cock full and flushed at the tip and bobbing against his belly. Spreading for him, and Eggsy felt his own cock throb at the thought. All of this was his. 

And he was not about to squander it.

Eggsy crawled up over Merlin and kissed him, hot and messy. There was no battle for dominance in the kiss. Merlin had surrendered to his lust beautifully. Hedonism for the win. 

The kiss wasn't enough to satisfy either of them for long. Merlin bucked up under him and pushed at Eggsy's shoulders until he finally broke away to slide straight down Merlin's body. He grabbed a muscled thigh in each hand and pulled until Merlin's hole was fully on display. 

It didn't even matter that he'd never done this before. He had the memory of Merlin licking him open, but even beyond that he just knew. His tongue found the tight pucker, swiping over it, and he groaned as the taste of Merlin filled his senses. 

Merlin's hips bucked up and he cried out, pushing out and opening up so Eggsy could press his tongue inside and taste more, more, more. It was a good thing they were down to primal noises because Eggsy couldn't have formed words if he'd wanted to. He was drowning in musk and sweat, and he didn't want to come up for air. 

Something landed next to him on the bed, and he reached for it blindly, knowing it'd be the slick that he needed to burrow into Merlin even deeper. He slid his tongue out of Merlin and looked up to find his man an absolute wreck. It was satisfying, but he wanted to feel Merlin's heat from the inside.

He grabbed the little pot and slicked his fingers messily, then watched in fascination when he pressed one inside, and then two. Merlin took it oh-so-well, even though he expected Merlin didn't exactly bottom very often. The feeling was indescribable, hot and clingy and oh-so-tight, and the thought of what that was going to feel like around his cock rocketed him toward orgasm so quickly his head spun.

"Gareth..." Merlin's words were barely recognisable. "Fuck me."

Eggsy yanked his fingers out and crawled up, panting heavily, harshly, staring down at Merlin's utterly lust-lost eyes as he pushed messily into his grasping hole. Once he hit bottom, he had to stop again, screw his eyes shut, and beg someone, somewhere, for just a little bit longer, to feel just a little less overwhelmed with this. 

It was Merlin who answered those little prayers, reaching out and splaying a broad palm over Eggsy's racing heart. He matched his breath to Eggsy's, then started to slow them down. It worked - Eggsy finally moved his hips, thrusting deeply, slowly, until he found their rhythm. 

Gripping Merlin's hand, Eggsy raised it to his face and rubbed himself against it, unconsciously sucking his thumb into his mouth. Merlin pressed down on his tongue and rubbed, making Eggsy's hips buck and his rhythm stutter as he responded by suckling harder. 

One particularly deep thrust made Merlin cry out harshly and clench up tight, and Eggsy needed to see more of that naked hunger. He tried again to find that sweet spot, and he succeeded. Merlin's other hand slid down to his cock, stroking hard and fast for the few seconds it took for Eggsy to swat that hand aside and replace it with his own.

It felt almost like there was a tangle of ancient, thorny vines winding through his body, entangled from his balls to his heart to the base of his brain and all down his spine. Those vines tightened, and to Eggsy it seemed like time slowed as his orgasm slammed into him and he hit the wall. 

He hit the wall and the world exploded behind his eyes. There was a colour fraying at the edge of darkness, and soon it overtook his mind until all he could see was brilliance. Merlin was there, though, with those strong arms waiting for him to fall across his chest, cradling him close as his universe tip-tilted around him. 

Eggsy could almost think it wasn't real, this sudden _opening_ , but when he managed to pry his eyes back open there were little greenish-blue sparks dancing between his fingertips. They were beautiful.

"Welcome," Merlin murmured, sliding his thumb from Eggsy's mouth and dragging him up for a slow kiss that was all tongues and teeth. His lips were tender by the time Merlin let him breathe again, and his cock was throbbing, still buried deep inside Merlin. 

"What...?" Eggsy held up his hand in wonder.

"You woke up. Your magic woke up." Merlin cradled Eggsy's face between his hands. "I hadn't thought...not like this."

"Not...like..." He was so lost, and so happy, and so scared all at once.

"I didn't think to wake you like this. So quickly." Merlin moaned beneath him, arse clenching around his spent cock. "Fuck..."

"I feel you...I feel magic," Eggsy's eyes were alight with it, with feral joy. His sparking fingers were slicked with Merlin's seed, and when he raised them to his mouth to suck them clean it was like licking a battery. The jolt of it made his empty balls tighten, and his deflating prick twitch. 

"Mmm, and we're going to have to teach you how to turn off the sparks before we leave the flat." Merlin was still trying to catch his breath, and already he was worried about Eggsy. Responsibility was tipping the scales again.

Eggsy saw the sense in that, and he eased out of Merlin and sat back on his heels. "I could get used to seeing you like this."

"Good, because I could very much get used to you fucking me," Merlin murmured, slowly sitting up and bringing Eggsy into his arms for a slow, deep kiss.

"About that - is it weird that I just assumed you would never want me to do that?" Eggsy had been fine with that arrangement in his head, but after the act, he knew he wanted more. 

"Not weird, no. Just because I'm a top in scene, doesn't mean I'm a top all the time." Eggsy smiled as Merlin took his hand and laced their fingers together, Eggsy's still sparking. In what seemed an offhand moment, Merlin made his fingers spark, too. "Do you notice anything?" he asked softly.

Eggsy regarded their entwined fingers and his eyes lit up all over again. "Yours are the same as mine, but with the colors flipped - more green than blue."

"Yes." Merlin smiled back up at him, and it was the sweetest smile Eggsy had ever seen. 

"What do I have to do to turn them off?" Eggsy asked. "Even though I don't really want to. I want to do more, learn more."

"Why am I not surprised that you're taking to this with so much enthusiasm?" Merlin levered himself up and crossed his legs, motioning for Eggsy to do the same. Eggsy sat up straight and waited, rapt. "This is going to sound absurd, but trust me. There is is a place in your chest where your magic 'lives'. Can you feel it? It's a little different for everyone."

Eggsy closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. Part of his physical regimen included hot yoga, so at least he knew how to still his mind and breathe properly. Once his mind had quieted, it was surprisingly easy to isolate the small, intimate inferno blazing inside him. He smiled and pressed his hand over his solar plexus, over the tattoo Merlin had given him. His wolf.

Merlin's mouth quirked, and he nodded. "Of course. It feels like a bonfire right now, but you need to concentrate on smothering it. Not putting it out," he hastened to add. 'Just bank it into coals. A super-heated ball of potential energy. Hold the image strong in your mind."

It was a very good metaphor, and Eggsy nodded, getting lost inside his own head. He was on a hillside, and the wind was blowing and making it difficult to do the work. Difficult, but not impossible. He used earth to quell the rising flames, until the defiant licks of fire dwindled down into impossibly hot coals.

"Good, Gareth. Very good. Now I want you wrap that ball of energy with the same tendrils of blue and green. Just keep wrapping it, like you're winding up a ball of yarn." Merlin's voice was steady and patient.

Eggsy felt sweat bead his forehead at the effort, but after a couple of false starts he got the hang of it and started wrapping. Soon, he opened his eyes and met Merlin's. "Got it. I think."

"You have it." Merlin sounded proud, and it made Eggsy glow. "You're picking this up very quickly."

Eggsy blushed and broke the eye contact, only to have Merlin grip his chin gently and lift him up again. 

"You'll need to learn to take praise, lad. I have a feeling that you'll be earning a great deal of it."

"I like it. Maybe a little too much, when it comes from you." That was an admission that was unexpectedly hard to make. Merlin had said never to beg him for anything, to take what he wanted.

"Gareth...are you trying to talk about being submissive when I'm hurting you?" Merlin raised an eyebrow, but Eggsy knew he wasn't actually surprised.

"Yeah. I guess so. Maybe sometimes when you're not." The last sentence came out unbidden.

"All right, aon gaoil, let's talk." Merlin took both of Eggsy's hands in his, and Eggsy stared down at them for a long moment, getting lost in how right they looked intertwined. "Do you want to submit to me in scene?"

"Yes." He didn't even have to think about that answer. "I want you to take control of me. Hurt me." Eggsy paused. "Use me however you want."

Merlin drew in a ragged breath, lust darkening his eyes again, improbably soon. "I can do that, but you have to promise me two things." 

"Anything." And it was true. He'd promise Merlin anything for this.

"One, always, always remember just how much I love you." Merlin leaned in and pressed their foreheads together. "How every moment you submit to me is a gift I shall treasure."

"That's it?" Eggsy smiled. Easy.

"That's one thing. The other is harder. I want you to use a colour system with me. Do you know what that is?" At the slight shake of Eggsy's head, he continued. "I'll ask you to give me a colour. Green is go, yellow is slow down, and red is stop. You need to know that, no matter what's happening, if you say yellow, I slow down and make sure you're okay. If you say red, I stop. And I care for you."

"And if I say green?" Eggsy teased, scooting in closer to Merlin.

"Focus, Gareth. Do you agree to always be honest when I ask you a colour?" Merlin's eyes were soft, but his voice was firm. 

"I do." Lying to Merlin was unthinkable.

"Good. Because I will give you such dark pleasures you'll explode, come apart at the seams for me." 

"Forget everything? Everything in the world but you?" It sounded fucking amazing.

"As I will forget everything but you. Ach, we are in danger, aon gaoil, are we not?" Merlin crossed the small space between them and kissed Eggsy, softly, sweetly, for just a heartbeat.

"In danger? And what does that phrase mean? 'Aon gaoil?'" Eggsy wanted more kissing, less talking, but if he were asking questions, he may as well go for broke.

"In danger because it would be so, so easy for us to just get lost here, in each other. Forget our obligations and simple biochemistry and just stay in this bed." Merlin kissed him again, just as fleetingly. "It means 'my own.'"

"You've been calling me that from the start." Eggsy chased after another kiss and was rewarded. 

"Because I knew it was true from the start. You are mine. My own. Even when I was sure you'd run from me when you heard the truth."

"I'll never run, love. You can count on that." Eggsy couldn't conceive of a being as perfectly well suited to him as his Merlin. "You're mine, too."

"Then all is well. And we still need to get you some food." Merlin's lips quirked as Eggsy unsubtly insinuated himself into his lap. 

"More kissing." Eggsy let his legs slide around Merlin's waists, pressing them together tightly. "Then food."

"I'll not argue with that." After all, at this point, what difference did it really make?

Eggsy grinned when Merlin cupped his face with both big hands and drew him in again for another kiss. Languid, slow, and heated. For once, it didn't feel to Eggsy like a prelude to more sex (although apparently his appetite for Merlin was insatiable), but rather an entirely new kind of intimacy. Just pressed up close to his lover, sharing breath and soft noises.

It made his heart flutter in his chest and warmed him down to the tips of his toes. It was fucking brilliant, and when he finally had to pull back for air, he met Merlin's eyes and found a tenderness and nakedness there that melted him to his core.

"I love you," he whispered into the still place between them.

"As I love you," came the equally soft response.


	5. Between Syllables and Snarls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggsy and Merlin get out of bed. It was generally believed by all to be a bad idea, so back they went to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) This is the first chapter with actual, honest-to-gods sadomasochism. I know it's in the tags, but fair warning again.  
> 2) I had to do it. I had to fancast Eggsy's voice and musical style. I picked Imminence, a Swedish metalcore band, and their album [This is Goodbye](https://open.spotify.com/album/7fT0MPZl2xR6swdf5SW6AD?si=WNFoTITHTKq7BvzDV8gjWw). In case, you know, Eggsy ever comes for air long enough to sing, I thought you might want to know what you're hearing. If that makes any sense.

Eggsy and Merlin managed to share a shower with only a minimal amount of groping, and soon they were back in the bedroom, picking up scattered articles of clothing. 

Eggsy laughed. "Guess I'm going commando today." His poor underwear had in no way survived Merlin. Then he turned back to look at Merlin, and god but the man looked hot as hell - fitted black tee shirt stretching over his chest and arms, jeans, boots, a jacket. Nothing special, but Merlin made it _work_. 

"What if I really like the sound of that?" Merlin's lips quirked, and Eggsy could tell he was not particularly regretting ripping his underwear in half. 

"I'd say that I'm lucky as fuck to have you, even though we can't show it. Yet." Because they would be able to. He swore that much to himself, to Merlin.

"All in due time, my love." Merlin bent to kiss him gently. "Now it's time to be just mates out for lunch."

"Right." Eggsy took a deep breath and opened the door to the flat, walking out onto the landing and down the stairs, sure of Merlin at his back. What he didn't expect was Merlin's two employees clapping and giving them a standing ovation.

"Brilliant!" shouted the young man who couldn't possibly have pointed ears.

"Really, totally outstanding!" added the woman with the green hair. 

There were no customers in; it was a couple of hours from opening, but Eggsy still blushed to the tips of his ears. "Um...thanks?"

Merlin chuckled behind him. "Okay, comedians. Let's make Gareth feel at home. Gareth, this is Andrielin, Andy for short." The young man had his hair down when he came over to shake Eggsy's hand, and this time the ears were unmistakable. Eggsy had a feeling it would be very rude to just ask him what he was. 

"It's very nice to properly meet you," Andy murmured, his voice more posh than his clothes and surroundings would indicate.

"Cheers, mate. You, too." Eggsy shook his hand firmly, looked him in the eyes, and that's when it hit him - this 'young man' was ancient.

"And this is Drina," Merlin added, nodding at the green-haired waif. 

She came over and hugged him. "I'm just so glad Merlin's found someone. Finally." Her body was so delicate, Eggsy was half-afraid to hug her very hard.

"No one's happier than me, I can promise you that," he answered, and he could practically feel Merlin smiling behind him.

"Okay, enough - if I don't get Gareth some nourishment, he may just expire on me." Merlin extricated Eggsy from Drina and pulled him gently toward the door. 

"Are you going to pretend to be just friends?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, kinda have to for the moment," Eggsy answered.

"Then you might want to wipe that huge smile off your face. You always seem vaguely sad in your pictures." Andy turned back to prepping his station.

"You...You've seen my covers and all that shite." Eggsy blushed again.

"I have - I do try to pay attention to what's popular. What's...current." Because for someone of Andy's age, it could be the difference between life and death. 

"I'll do my best to get to somber, but people might just have to get used to seeing me happy." Eggsy smiled at him, and then followed Merlin out the door. 

"So," Eggsy started, as soon as the door was closed behind them, "is Andy like an elf or something?"

"He's exactly like an elf. A prince even, living in exile." Merlin stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets, obviously to keep himself from gripping Eggsy's hand. "It's all very tragic and romantic."

"And Drina? There's something not-human about her, too." Eggsy was grateful that the street wasn't overly crowded as they began the short walk to the cafe.

"Half-nyad. Raised in the human world by her father." Merlin seemed distracted, but then Eggsy realised he was actually keeping a fiercely protective eye on the surroundings. 

"Hey...hey, babe, you know it's okay, yeah? If someone recognises me, I'll take a selfie with them and sign a body part, and that's the end of it." Eggsy looked up and to the side at Merlin, trying to keep his expression neutral.

"Aye, but I don't like the idea of anyone else touching you like they have a right to." 

"I get that. I totally get that. Believe me, it's not my favourite thing either, but they're harmless." For the most part went unsaid but understood. He had his creepers just like the other two intrepid members of Tru2U. What had been super fun was being 15 and dealing with grown humans who wrote him explicit fan mail and sent equally explicit pics. 

"Up until the very moment they're not." Merlin sounded like he had some idea what he was talking about. "Mobs can be very dangerous things."

Eggsy shuddered. "Never been in one of those without the security detail, but I think we'll be okay walking in the middle of an off-the-path part of Edinburgh in the middle of a weekday."

The cafe was small but not overly crowded. They were in the time between the lunch and dinner rushes. It was easy to find a table toward the back, but Eggsy could already feel a couple of sets of eyes on him, wondering, thinking 'surely not!'. The server absolutely recognised him, but she was struggling to stay professional. Good for her.

Eggsy flashed her a smile as he told her what he wanted, and she blushed but scurried away to hand in his and Merlin's orders. "I think that one's about to pop off," Merlin murmured and his smile showed Eggsy that he'd relaxed his hypervigilance just a bit.

"So. Time to talk about normal things. Yeah?" At Merlin's nod, Eggsy continued. "I wanna take you down to meet my mum, Daisy and Roxy tomorrow morning. If we leave early, we can be there by 10:30 or so. Just...you know it's better if I order a car from my service, right? I mean, public transport is pretty dicey..." 

"Gareth, I think I can handle a few hours in the back of a town car," Merlin responded, the amusement flashing in his eyes.

"Right. Of course you can. I just have never really talked about money with anyone before. Roxy was born richer than I'll ever be, and my mum hasn't ever really wanted any details." He shrugged. "It just makes me feel like some kind of posh arsehole when really I'm not."

"Well. Merlin MacGregor may not be rich, but he makes a comfortable living selling his art." Eggsy saw Merlin's hand twitch toward him, but he aborted the motion.

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride." He suddenly wanted to give Merlin the best of everything, too, just like his mum and Daisy. Eggsy knew, on some level, that material things were of no consequence to Merlin, but still. It was all Eggsy knew - you love someone, you take care of them. 

"That is something I certainly intend to do," Merlin answered, a sly grin on his face.

Eggsy laughed and shook his head. "And I thought I was the hopeless one."

"I'd say we're both pretty much helpless in all this." Merlin shrugged as the server brought their meals. 

After she left and Eggsy had wolfed down a few chips, he answered. "Because the gods put me in your path, right?"

"I imagine it's easier for you to believe in magic than the old gods." Merlin started in on his sandwich with much better grace. "Wait until I take you home."

That stopped Eggsy's feeding frenzy for a moment. "Home? What do you mean?" Surely, he'd been to Merlin's home. The loft of solitude, the den of pleasure, the refuge from cold, hard reality.

Merlin lowered his voice, making sure it didn't carry past the table. Eggsy saw there was magic involved in muffling their conversation. "I only live in Edinburgh some of the year. The rest of the time, I live in a secret community deep in the Highlands, ensorcelled to keep strangers away. They are my people - an unbroken line from the days before the Celts invaded us and tried to assimilate us all. They got most of us, but some small number of us escaped them, and we've continued to evade the outside world for a very long time."

Eggsy had to stop and process the idea. "What's it like?"

"Beautiful. Full of friends, full of life. Full of magic." He smiled. "The land we hold is wild and untamed, save for a few small fields of crops." The smile faded. "It's also where my children live."

After almost choking on a bite of his fish, Eggsy coughed out, "Children?!"

"Don't worry, there's no wife or mate waiting for me. My oldest friend wanted children badly, but when she and her own wife gave up on adopting from within the holdfast, she approached me and asked me to father them." A tinge of sadness wound its way into his voice. "I'm just Uncle Merlin. There are three: a boy, and fraternal twins - two girls." He looked into Eggsy's face, anxious lines on his face.

"Hey, hey. No worries. I would like to meet them, these people you care about so much, and see your home." Some part of Eggsy was a bit shocked, but there was more curiosity than anything. "I've always wanted a kid."

"It's not outside the realm of possibility, love. Now eat your fish and chips so we can go back to the loft. There's one thing I want more than anything else right now." Merlin didn't have a particularly filthy grin on his face.

"What's that?" Eggsy cocked his head.

"I want to hear you sing. And play. I have a guitar." Merlin's voice softened. "I want to hear your voice. Your real voice." He fished out his mobile and opened YouTube. "I want to hear you sing like this." He'd opened the app to a video of Tru2U doing one of those stripped down acoustic sets they occasionally did for radio programmes. Eggsy had kicked up a ruckus about this particular set, getting all diva-ish about rearranging one of their sappy love songs into an acoustic set piece for his voice.

The song was still the most basic sort of love song, but his voice was the star of the set. Eggsy blushed a little. "I had to be such a bitch to get that."

"Soon, it's what everyone will be clamoring for. Your voice. Your music. And don't sell yourself short - this video has more than five million views. Your fans want it, too." Merlin put the mobile away, and tucked into his sandwich efficiently but brutally.

Their plates were empty short minutes later, and Eggsy pulled out a black card to pay without even thinking of it. The server goggled at it a little. 

"You sure they take that?" Merlin asked, amused.

"Everyone takes it." Eggsy shrugged, making sure to leave an enormous tip. He took the guest copy of the receipt and signed the back, addressing it to Eileen, the server. Being unexpectedly good to his fans was one of actually fun things about this life. "Now let's go back. I am absolutely gagging to kiss you. A proper kiss, with you pinning me up against the door."

"I do love kissing you until you can't even breathe," Merlin answered, a teasing flash in his eyes that belied the casual reply and went straight to Eggsy's gut.

"Let's get the fuck out of here." Eggsy stood somewhat stiffly, glad his shirt and jacket were long enough to cover his incipient erection. 

"Agreed." Merlin's clothes left little to the imagination, at least until he pulled on his own jacket and Eggsy pouted a bit. "You're a greedy little thing, aren't you?"

"Just like you." They left the cafe and walked right into a ring of fans. "Fuck, someone must have posted a pic of me and tagged the restaurant. This won't take long." 

Eggsy plastered a smile on his face and worked the crowd expertly, signing autographs and taking selfies. One of the more ballsy fans outright asked him who Merlin was, and Eggsy answered, "He's an old friend of mine. Merlin MacGregor. You should check out his art. He's brilliant."

Now that news would be plastered everywhere, and Eggsy was almost glad. It could have gone so much worse. They at least got to control the narrative.

Eggsy extricated himself and Merlin from the last fan and half-dragged him down the street toward the tattoo shop. A half a block away, Eggsy let go his hold on Merlin's arm, but he stayed close. Merlin just didn't understand the shit storm that was hard on their heels. 

The crowd was small at first. A handful of people scattered haphazardly around the shop, and Eggsy could practically feel every photo being taken like a punch to the gut. It wasn't a new feeling, but it was worse now because he was happier now - happier than he'd ever been - he had so much more to lose. 

Who'd he been kidding? Merlin meant it when he said he could handle the media and the fans, but starting him out with a random street mob? There was just no way that Merlin would still want him after this. 

Merlin had been instructing Andy and Drina to draw down the shades. Vaguely, Eggsy wondered how this shop even made money, as seldom as he saw anyone in here getting work done. 

Once the outside was shut off, Eggsy grabbed at Merlin's arm again, pulling him up the stairs until Merlin stopped him halfway, pressing tightly up against his back. "Ye look a bit green. Are ye hurt?"

"No...no. Just fuckin' terrified." Eggsy realised he was shaking.

"Of what, exactly?" Merlin carefully turned Eggsy so that they were facing each other. With Eggsy on the next step up, they were almost matched in height.

"That now that you're exposed, and you've experienced what I deal with all the time, you'll change your mind." It'd be easy to play mind games here, or to hedge and stammer and make something up, but Eggsy didn't want it to be that way between them. Merlin was honest, and would be too, no matter how scared he was.

"Is that what you think?" Merlin shook his head. "Nay, aon gaoil, I won't ever leave you. Even if we have to contend with that for the rest of our lives."

"Even when we're old and grey and just trying to putter around the garden in peace with our grandkids?" It made Eggsy feel soft and warm at the idea of grandchildren and gardens, but there was a bleakness attached to the idea that even then they won't be left alone.

"Even then." Merlin leaned in for a gentle kiss, a soft press of lips and stealing of breath. "I can't tell you how much I look forward to the idea of growing old with you. Of growing old at all. Now, tell me what you need."

"I need to get out of my head." The inside of it was a mess. Eggsy just needed to quiet it down.

"Music, or a scene?" Merlin asked, tenderness in his voice, in the way his big hands framed Eggsy's face.

"Oh, now...what kinda choice is that?" Eggsy managed a little smile, turning his face so he's rubbing up against one of Merlin's palms like a feral kitten. "Music and getting fucked by you - my two favourite things in the world."

"Ah, but a scene doesn't have to end in fucking," Merlin replied, his already deep voice turning down an octave.

"Blasphemy," Eggsy declared, nuzzling until he could get Merlin's thumb in his mouth to suckle on. It felt so good, but not good enough.

"Fuck, boy..." Merlin snagged Eggsy's hand and brought it down to cup his sudden but inevitable erection, forcing a low moan out of Eggsy. God, that hard length felt good in his hand and he squeezed firmly.

"Yesss...take me, force me to swallow this cock, and leave me black and blue. Take your boy." It was so past time. "Just fucking wreck me."

Merlin hissed and gripped Eggsy by the upper arm, turning him again and steering his suddenly wobbly self up the rest of the flight of stairs and into the flat, closing and locking the door. With the click of the lock, Eggsy relaxed, the brouhaha from earlier fading away into distant background noise before vanishing entirely. His stomach was doing flips out of nervous, acute anticipation.

"Strip out of your clothes." Merlin turned his back on him and walked to the side of the bed, turning back to watch.

Eggsy lost the jacket and shirt within seconds, toed off his trainers and socks just as quickly, but he took his time with his jeans, popping the button and sliding down the zip slow and easy. Merlin was staring at him like he was Merlin's favourite meal and he'd been starving for days. It was ridiculous, because it had only been a couple of hours, but there it was, and he relished that naked hunger. 

"C'mon, Gareth. Get naked and get over here on your knees," Merlin growled.

Eggsy's aching cock twitched against his belly, and he stripped his jeans the rest of the way off, letting it bounce up from its confinement - his own naked hunger. It dimly occurred to Eggsy that Merlin had not been at all specific as to how he was supposed to get over there, and so he hatched a plan specifically designed to cater to what he suspected was one of Merlin's dirty little kinks.

He crawled to Merlin. On his hands and knees, shoulders swaying and well-trained dancer's body swinging smoothly, sensually from side to side. 

Merlin tried to watch impassively, but even from the floor Eggsy could see the primal flash in Merlin's eyes, saw a small damp patch rise on the dark fabric of his jeans. It made his mouth water and prick at the corners. 

When he reached the rug at Merlin's feet, he sat back on his heels and looked up at him through his lashes. He couldn't say he felt mischievous or anything so silly. No, Eggsy felt something entirely more visceral. The feeling that he'd pleasured his mate.

Merlin took a handful of his short hair and dragged him to the damp fabric and the hard, jerking cock still tragically confined within. There was an implacability to the way Merlin handled him, and yet at the very edges the blurry lines of love and adoration. He was safe, and he just let go, whimpering as he mouthed the bulge through the denim, sucking at that damp patch and the head of Merlin's cock just beyond. 

Oh, but it was not enough. Eggsy needed the hot glide of flesh filling his mouth, the glorious weight of it against his tongue, like honeyed silken velvet over steel. Time to see if Merlin meant it when he said it was okay to be submissive in scene. "Please, please let me suck your cock." 

"You certainly deserve a reward for that impressive little display." Merlin hummed softly, as if weighing the request, making Eggsy wait for it. And wait Eggsy did, sucking and biting gently at Merlin's covered cock and looking up at him pleadingly. "Very well, then." 

Eggsy was almost literally gagging for it, and his eyes snapped down from Merlin's eyes to watch hungrily while Merlin unzipped and shoved his jeans and underwear down just enough to free his cock and heavy balls. Fuck, but Eggsy wanted to worship that cock, his mouth opening and tongue wetting his lips.

"Fucking hell, that mouth. So ripe and beautiful..." Merlin stroked his thumb softly across Eggsy's lower lip. 

"Please," Eggsy begged again, straining a little against the firm hold of Merlin's hand in his hair. 

Merlin growled again and kept that controlling hand in Eggsy's hair, using the other to grip his own cock and smear the precome against Eggsy's lips. Eggsy lapped it up with a feverishness that surprised even him, moaning helplessly when his tongue swiped across the tip of Merlin's dick, glancing off the piercing. 

Eggsy's whole body felt like a hole desperate to feel Merlin's cock ramming into him. Mouth, empty little hole, anything. Everything. Surrendering to Merlin's strength made his mind a little fuzzy, swimmy, and everything started to float. Everything except him, because he was held anchored by Merlin's hand.

Merlin's hand, yes, but then his cock finally slid past his slick lips pinning him just as thoroughly. 'Oh fuck yes' was all that Eggsy could think as he was penetrated, inch after inch of hard flesh pressing inside, and he could feel it in his balls.

It was such a slow violation that it was like time had stood still on him, but soon enough he felt the barbell at the back of his throat. He gagged a little, and his eyes teared up, but oh it felt so good, and he prayed that Merlin wouldn't stop.

He didn't. "Breathe through your nose," he commanded, pressing forward, and then inching back before pushing in again. "Oh, and Gareth - do not come until I tell you to. Do you understand?"

Eggsy blinked his eyes and nodded, the idea of it perversely pushing him perilously close to coming on the rug. This was going to be pure torture. He was looking forward to this more than he could possibly say. 

Merlin stroked his hair in approval, "That's my good boy." The praise warmed him through, as though Eggsy had been waiting all his life to be _somebody's_ good boy. There must have been something in his eyes that Merlin couldn't quite read, because he pulled his cock from Eggsy's mouth and asked, "Colour?"

"Green!" Merlin barely got the word out before Eggsy was rushing with the response.

Merlin tightened the grip on his hair again and pushed in even deeper, until they'd really reached the point of no return. "Swallow," he purred, gasping as Eggsy did as he was told and Merlin's cock entered his throat. "Fuck, boy."

Once past that point, Eggsy found it almost easy to take the rest, especially since Merlin eased off and let him breathe when he needed it most. All Eggsy could do was moan deep in his chest and take it. When he felt Merlin bottom out, it took everything he had not to come. He might have felt floaty, but his cock was very much rooted to the here and now, and this was a fantasy come true. 

He curled his fingers around Merlin's strong thighs, digging in hard as Merlin fucked his mouth, not even trying to do anything clever. Merlin was in charge here, and if he wanted something more, Eggsy was sure he'd make it very clear. 

"Gods, your mouth, it's fucking perfect. You're perfect." Merlin's breathing was getting harsher, panting into the thick space between them, and the praise again made Eggsy melt. He batted his tear-damp lashes up at Merlin and tried his best to tighten his throat around Merlin's length. 

That was all it took for Merlin to grip his hair even harder and spill down his throat. Oh Christ, this was heaven, if only Merlin would let him taste...he made a pleading noise and Merlin pulled up enough to spurt across his tongue. Merlin finished by using his fist to pump the last few drops across Eggsy's lips and cheek.

When he finally pulled back, the first thing Merlin did was to drop to his knees and take Eggsy hard into his arms, rooting him and anchoring him back in the here and now. "Oh, aon gaoil, my good, good boy," he whispered, and Eggsy shivered, lust firing through his veins and cock throbbing with a dull ache of need.

Merlin bent to delicately lick his own come off Eggsy's face, and Eggsy cried out suddenly, orgasm imminent. A big hand shot down to clamp around the base of Eggsy's swollen prick, staving off the orgasm just as Merlin pressed his tongue into Eggsy's gasping mouth to share a taste. 

Fuck fuck fuck. Eggsy was so far gone that he couldn't have told Merlin any of his names, true or otherwise. That didn't stop Merlin from asking, "Colour?" again. 

"G...green," he managed, throat hoarse. 

"Good lad. My treasure." Merlin got up off the floor and held out his hand to Eggsy, who took it because he frankly needed help to get up off his knees. "Get in the middle of the bed, on your belly, legs spread nice and wide. I need to get some things, but you are going to wait patiently for me."

Of course he was. It was almost unspeakably luxurious to crawl up onto the soft bed and the softer furs, and he felt like almost every strand of that fur was caressing him. Maddening, but so delicious. 

Eggsy tried his best to concentrate on making himself a pretty picture for his Merlin, but mostly he just landed on his front in a boneless sprawl, thighs sliding far apart and arse up in the air. He let his mind drift on the cloud of endorphins, the taste of Merlin's seed thick on his tongue.

When Merlin came back some undefinable span of moments later, Eggsy was rubbing his face and running his fingers through the fur. It just felt so good. He felt so good, except for the way his hole felt so empty, exposed to the cool air of the room, and his cock and balls so heavy.

Eggsy saw that Merlin was naked now, and carrying a few things in his hands. What caught his eye first was the grey leather flogger. God, this was real, and this was happening and oh _fuck_ was he ready.

Merlin put most of the objects down on the foot of the bed, but not the flogger. Eggsy was aware of his lover (his Master?) crawling up to kneel between his thighs, but he jolted at the first soft brush of the flogger's strands against his back. 

"Sshhh, sshhh," Merlin murmured, reaching a hand to stroke his smooth flank as if Eggsy was a startled show pony. Eggsy moaned as those strands swept slowly down his back from his shoulders to his arse, but when Merlin dangled the very tips of the flogger over his hole that moan turned to pleading.

"Please, Merlin, please, I want it, please..." It felt like every cell of his body was yearning toward that flogger. 

"I wouldnae have guessed." Merlin's reply was low, with just a hint of amusement. "But it's not up to ye, is it?" 

"No, Merlin," he murmured, groaning when Merlin's hands gripped his arse and squeezed. 

"Good. Now that we've established that..." Merlin pulled his arse cheeks apart, and Eggsy almost hit the roof when he felt the first swipe of Merlin's tongue across his hole. 

Oh god, how was he supposed to hold on when Merlin went and did _that_? His toes curled and his fingers clenched in the bedding, and he tried his best to keep from rubbing himself against the soft furs as Merlin took him apart. Teasing little licks at first, and then he felt the press of Merlin's tongue entering him, fucking him. 

Dimly, he was aware he was being loud, begging, generally being pathetic - but all Merlin did was make approving noises while administering the mother of all rimmings. All Eggsy could do was hold on to the floatiness, because it made everything just that little big fuzzier rather than the sharp pleasure he felt that threatened to undo him. 

For all that Merlin's talented tongue was a torture, Eggsy still cried out when it disappeared. It was a sweet relief when two slick fingers pressed against his hole instead, sliding in and then backing slowly out, catching against Eggsy's swollen, open little pucker. 

Eggsy kept thinking that the top of his head was just going to blow right off, but every time he did, Merlin upped the game. Maybe he needed to tell his brain to shut up and just feel. Just be Merlin's toy. His body relaxed and instead of begging he just moaned loudly, and panted and rocked his hips up against Merlin's fingers. 

"Fuck, boy, you're a sight..." Merlin growled out the words, but they just washed over Eggsy in the tiny spaces between syllables and snarls. 

"An' you're perfect," Eggsy murmured, words slurring a little as they had to swim out past his gasping mouth. 

"Shhh...Just keep doing that. Keep opening up that little hole for me." Another stroke to his flank, and it made Eggsy feel it was okay to be as much of a little beast as he felt right then. 

Merlin's fingers disappeared, only to be replaced with something unforgiving and cold and slick. It was like ice against his swollen, aching emptiness, and Eggsy whimpered, unsure if he should rock forward away from it or back into it. 

Merlin immediately held still. "Colour?"

Eggsy had to think about it for a microsecond, mostly because he had to remember how to form a word. "Green."

"Good boy...gods, you are such a good boy for me," Merlin murmured, keeping up with his slow, patient petting while he worked a sizable metal plug into Eggsy's grasping arse. It was blunt and big and yet nowhere near enough. It wasn't Merlin. "I'm doing this so that I can just yank it out and fuck you hard and fast when it's time for you to come." Merlin leant over and whispered the words right in Eggsy's flushed ear. "Ye want to come for me, don't ye?"

Eggsy nodded and said 'yes' an awful lot of times before Merlin nuzzled his cheek and pushed the plug all the way home. Oh, he felt full, labile flesh trying to clench around the solid metal, hips moving restlessly as he tried to fuck himself on it. 

A sudden stinging slap to his arse brought him up short. "Ye'll not be tryin' to fuck yourself on it, my perfect little slut." A short volley of slaps left hand-sized marks on Eggsy's arse, but it was over as soon as it began. 

He could feel his skin practically glowing in the late afternoon light, and he wondered if he marked up oh so very prettily for Master. He hoped he did. A ferocious little voice inside him wanted to be the absolutely best fuck Merlin had ever had in all his long life. 

"Your...your slut, Master," he moaned, and Merlin just...stopped. The man gasped and made a sound that forced Eggsy to turn his light floaty head around. When he saw Merlin reaching down to fist the base of his rampant erection, staving off an orgasm of his own, Eggsy looked up at him from under his lashes. 

Oh yes, power went both ways through them, like constantly undulating current. 

"Always. Always mine." Merlin bent over and bit right in the centre of the reddened flesh, worrying it with his teeth until Eggsy was a moaning mess all over again. 

Merlin stopped, and came around to the side of the bed. "Can ye stand, sweet boy? It'll be worth your while." He held out a hand and Eggsy took it, carefully getting to his feet, the shifting of the plug maddening inside him. 

When he'd finally achieved a state of verticality, Merlin looked down at him and fisted his hair, gently turning Eggsy's face up for a kiss, filthy and intense and claiming. There was no doubt in Eggsy's mind that this scenario was having the same kind of life-changing impact on Merlin that it was on him. This changed things. What things, and how, Eggsy couldn't begin to consider, but nonetheless. The wind had shifted and sent them adrift into their own little world. 

After that kiss, Merlin led him to the bedpost and held each wrist in turn as he put a black leather cuff with a ring on each one. Then Eggsy lifted up his arms as Merlin put a quick release locking pin in the rings and then fastened them to a hook in the bedpost that Eggsy hadn't even noticed before. 

There was something about being restrained like that that made Eggsy give up the rest of his thoughts, coherent or not. He just kept finding new levels of surrender, of submission, that would astonish him if he could think. Just when he thought he'd given Merlin everything, Merlin would find something new to worry at, like teeth in his flesh. 

"This won't hurt much," Merlin said conversationally, sounding almost human while caressing Eggsy's back with the flogger once more. "Until it does."

Merlin stepped back to swing, and indeed the first strike wasn't exactly painful. It felt thuddy, warm, almost like a massage, if you liked your masseuses to be giants. The second stroke was much the same, setting up a nearly soothing sort of rhythm that lulled Eggsy almost to sleep. 

He was so far down in his own depths that he didn't even notice the strength of the blows growing until the first one to sting actually hit. His eyes flew open, and the thrill of it shook him to the core. A lifetime of needing this, craving it without even knowing, and now here it was - he was restrained, spanked, with a sore throat, a plug up his arse, and a flogger biting into his skin. Oh, and he was so desperately, hopelessly in love that it was its own kind of sweet pain, one he never wanted to heal.

One thing was for certain: Merlin knew how to use that flogger. It was Eggsy's dying thought as once more the pain of the surely placed blows made him go down again. The rhythm was perfect, the pain escalating step by step. Merlin never faltered, he never tried to play games with him in these moments. He was simply there, giving Eggsy what he'd needed so deeply - a sure and constant presence at his back, keeping him safe. 

The blows were coming hard and heavy now, and Eggsy's whole back felt like it was on fire, the magical kind of fire that burnt bright even as he descended into what felt like pitch black, welcoming water. 

It came as a shock when the blows stopped and Merlin dropped the flogger to press along his aching back. "Colour?" he asked softly, right in Eggsy's ear. 

"Green," Eggsy murmured in return. His head was hanging down, and all he could see was his prick, so hard and leaking so copiously onto the rug that it almost didn't feel part of him anymore. 

"Extraordinary," was Merlin's reply, as he reached up over Eggsy's head and hit the lock on the cuffs, one arm around Eggsy's waist to support his weight as he sagged without the post. 

Eggsy found himself manoeuvred to the foot of the bed and pressed down against the furs face first. The cool air felt wonderful on his back and his arse was up in the air - please, god, let this mean that Merlin was about to fuck him.

"Oh, aye..." Merlin answered, and Eggsy could never say, afterward, if he'd said the words aloud to begin with. "Ye've made me so fucking hard, boy. I'm losing my fucking mind."

It was another sort of praise, and one that Eggsy warmed to immediately. Getting Merlin riled up enough to admit that...yeah, he could get used to it. But then, Merlin was pulling out the plug, working it out and not yanking it after all, but making short work of the offending piece of metal as he could without hurting Eggsy. 

Eggsy felt more than saw the plug land on the bed next to him, but it hadn't even fallen all the way before Merlin's cock was filling him up. Merlin moaned loudly. "Fuck boy, this hole feels fucking perfect around my cock. Been teasing me forever, hm? Being my sweet little whore?"

"Yes, Master, yes yes please, it hurts..." And god, it did. Merlin and that damned piercing of his, rubbing up against his prostate, real and hot and giving like that plug was not. It was fucking excruciating to hold back as the banked lust roared back to life. 

"Tch, we can't have that. Come for me. Now." It was one hot nanosecond before Eggsy did as he was told, and honest to god he thought he was dying it felt so fucking good. His balls unloaded until they were empty, and he just let himself fall right into the welcoming darkness, sure that Merlin would meet him there.

The last thing he heard was Merlin's loud grunts and snarls as the man filled him up, as was proper, as was his right. It was a last, strange, swimmy thought before the darkness swallowed him whole. 

When he came round, he'd been moved, positioned, and was splayed out on Merlin's chest. One of Merlin's arms curled around his hips, and his other hand stroked the line of his shoulder almost like he was touching fine porcelain. Or a razor wire.

His back was slick and cool and sticky with some kind of unguent Merlin likely cooked up, and his face was buried half in Merlin's armpit. Merlin was all he could see, feel, smell. It made him sigh happily. 

"Good evening, my love," Merlin murmured, lifting Eggsy's chin so he could give him a proper wake-up kiss. "Someone's still floating, I think."

"Nah, just...really, really do not wanna move right now." Eggsy shot him a grin he was sure was somewhat goofy.

"Nor do I. I doctored your back so you're not too sore tomorrow. I know you have to be able to perform." He stroked Eggsy's cheek. "I know you don't like the idea of not being able to feel the pain."

"Mmm. No, I don't wanna make one move without feeling that for a real long time." Apparently all those elocution lessons fell through the cracks after an experience like that. 

Merlin pulled up another fur as Eggsy shivered. "I have to tell you, aon gaoil, I took you much, much farther than a complete beginner should have been able to take. You were...I don't have words. Beautiful - that'll do for now."

The praise made Eggsy blush and hide his face in Merlin's neck. "I loved it. Every second of it. I will never forget you fucking that cock down my throat." He slid a hand down to cup Merlin's heavy, soft prick, squeezing gently.

"Fuck, Gareth, give an old man a break, hm? I may have wrecked you, but you wrecked me, too. I didn't know I could even come that hard. We wrecked each other." 

"You totally loved every second of it, too." Eggsy grinned cheekily and slid one thigh over Merlin's hips.

"You like that, don't you? Hearing about all the ways that I love you best out of anyone in the world, living or dead?" Merlin quirked his lips. "Because I do, you brat."

The grin stayed plastered to Eggsy's face as Merlin shifted him so he could drink a glass of water and take a couple of paracetemol. "Do you think you'll be alright if I get up to make you some tea?"

"As long as I don' have to think too much, you go right on ahead." Eggsy made a little shoo motion with his fingers, then collapsed back down onto the bed, falling dead asleep before the kettle even hit the cooker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at songaboutexiles :)


	6. I Gave You Bats, Not Butterflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggsy finally gets to sing for Merlin.

Eggsy awoke at some point later - the evening light was grey where it peeped in around the drawn shades, but candles were lit, and he was back in Merlin's protective arms. "Now I think you might actually be back," Merlin whispered in his ear.

"I think you might be right." Eggsy smiled, even though his voice was hoarse. He'd have to do something about that before the next show. God, it was hard to believe that tomorrow night he'd be getting on a plane and leaving Merlin behind, however temporarily. He pushed those thoughts out of his head, not willing to let them engulf the truly incredible way he felt right now. 

"We need to talk about something," Merlin said, raising a hand to stroke Eggsy's hair. Even his scalp was sore. Basically, Eggsy was in heaven. 

"Anything, love." Eggsy rubbed his head against Merlin's hand.

"You called me 'Master' in our scene. Do you remember?" he asked, very gently.

Oh. That. Yikes. "I...do remember. Was it wrong?"

"No, Gareth. Not wrong. But it is rather a big deal." Merlin lifted Eggsy's face so he could see his eyes. "We leapt from 'I think I might like to be submissive in scene' to 'Master' very quickly. I don't take it lightly. Is that what you want, when we're in scene?"

Eggsy didn't really have to think about it. It was too right, too easy for the word to come out of his mouth. "When we're in scene, yeah." No one could ever mistake them, with their easy give and take of power and Eggsy's slightly feral nature, for a lifestyle couple.

"Then I accept that responsibility. I would care for you in every way regardless, but being your Master means something far deeper to me. Something I would never betray - your trust." Merlin's voice was hoarse too, but not for the same reason as Eggsy's. 

"I know you wouldn't. I trust you...so much that it's a little scary. There's nothing I wouldn't let you do to me." At least once.

"But I'm not just doing it 'to you,' aon gaoil, we're doing it. We're creating this...thing between us, you and I." Merlin sat up in bed a little, shifting Eggsy about till he could get a still-steaming cup of tea into his hands. "Drink this. I've kept it warm for you - it should heal your throat. It doesn't taste all that great, but it'll do the trick."

Eggsy thought about what Merlin had said as he sipped the tea, which wasn't nearly so dire as Merlin made it out to be. "It's like making magic."

"You're right. It's very much like that - our kind of magic." Merlin watched him drink the tea like he was the most fascinating thing in the world. 

"Okay, you know I have to do it." Eggsy took a sip and then let fly with the question that had been burning him up. "Are you _the_ Merlin? Like King Arthur and Camelot and all that?"

Merlin stopped still and looked at him quizzically. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"I already know you're ancient, why would it matter?" Eggsy cradled his mug in his hands, taking another small sip.

"Then...yes. That would be me." Merlin sounded tired, more than anything. "Arthur was a project a generation in the making, and he was truly glorious. Deeply flawed, but glorious."

"Had to have been hard, losing him." Eggsy cocked his head, trying to suss out what Merlin was feeling.

"I went to the long sleep for a reason." Merlin shrugged a shoulder eloquently. "It was a cycle, you see. I would find myself a place to hole up and sleep, and then some patriotic golden boy would find me and wake me up to find Arthur and save England." At that, Merlin rolled his eyes. As if he could possibly care about England.

"With Arthur," he continued, "We were trying to beat back the last influences of Christian Rome. It wasn't about England - England didn't even properly exist yet. None of those idiotic questers realised that you can't fix dead. And Arthur was surely dead."

"Didn't you put about those rumours that he'd return?" Eggsy asked, fascinated. "And why are you awake now?"

"I tried to give the people a little hope. A glimmer." Merlin shook his head. "It was a mistake. Perhaps I just couldn't bear to think of him truly dead. I'm awake now because the last fool who woke me wanted me to stop the Blitz. I stayed awake...because I missed my home, and I had a feeling that something extraordinary was waiting just around the corner."

Merlin leaned down and kissed Eggsy gently, just a soft brush of lips, but Eggsy was on a roll now. "Did you fight Nazi warlocks?!"

"Aye, I did. Not alone, of course, but yes." Now Merlin's lips were curling up in a smile. It was hard to be terribly serious and wistful with Eggsy around. "Now you should finish your tea, because I very much want to hear you sing."

"As long as I can sing naked." Eggsy took a deep swallow, realised it was a mistake, and grimaced at the overload of herbal flavour. 

Merlin chuckled. "Yeah, slowly but surely with that stuff."

"My throat already feels better. You need to keep this around because I am _so_ going to deep throat your cock again." In truth, it really got Eggsy off thinking about the fact that Merlin was so big he needed doctoring after sucking his cock. 

"You were incredible. I've never had anyone relish sucking me off like you do." Merlin's voice got low and growly, and he bent to suckle a bruise at the join of Eggsy's neck and shoulder. 

Eggsy bit his lower lip. "Do you want me to sing, or do you want to fuck me again?"

"I'd have to be dead not to want to fuck you, but yes. I'll be good. I want to hear you sing for me." Merlin straightened up and gathered Eggsy up into his arms again while he finished his tea. "And for the record, you can indeed sing naked. In fact, I demand it."

"Call you Master a few times, and you get bossy," Eggsy teased, grinning. 

"No one will ever be the boss of you," Merlin replied, fondness in his dark eyes. 

"I am well-known for being a little shit that way."

"I have no doubt. How does your back feel?" Merlin ran his hand oh-so-gently down the marked flesh.

"Feels...really good. Still nice and sore, but I could definitely dance if I had to. And I do have to, so that's a plus." Eggsy finished his tea and set it aside. "Okay, so where's your guitar?"

Merlin extricated himself from Eggsy and went over to the two long work tables that comprised an attic-like room at the back of the flat. It was the only separated part of the flat save the bathroom, so Eggsy hadn't explored. 

Now, curious as always, Eggsy stood up and only wobbled a little bit as he walked over to take a look. It was interesting, to say the least. One of the expansive tables had herbs hanging above it and a vast assortment of equipment that Eggsy assumed was for spellwork and potions. The other was quite modern, housing Merlin's cameras, a rather fancy laptop for editing, and about a million different lenses and other tools of the trade.

"Keeping a foot in both worlds?" Eggsy asked, regarding Merlin fondly.

"Always. It can get quite exhausting." Merlin reached into the gap next the herb-and-potion table and the wall and came out with a guitar. It was beautiful - all rich wood and smooth, shiny curves. Eggsy had never seen a lovelier instrument. "Here. Show me."

Eggsy took the guitar with reverent hands, turning it this way and that, testing to make sure it was in tune. It was, which came as no surprise. Merlin wouldn't just leave this beauty around to gather dust. 

He moved to one of the well-worn leather armchairs, sitting forward in it so he could position the guitar correctly, cradled against his bare chest. If he was somehow supposed to feel weird sitting around naked with a guitar in his arms, he just couldn't be bothered.

Merlin settled into the other armchair and whispered a few words in a language Eggsy found he already half-understood. A fire crackled to life in the grate, and Eggsy smiled at him. "Lazy."

"Efficient."

"Uh huh," Eggsy laughed and played a few random chords softly, warming up his hands. "Oh, she sounds fucking fantastic, Merlin."

"Hm. Yes, 'she' does. Why'd you call it a she?" Merlin was studying him, and it made him feel oddly good and terribly exposed. "Keep playing."

"I dunno, just seemed right. She's a lady, she is." Eggsy coaxed random snippets of music out of the metal strings, only to find that the melodies were simply dying to spill forth with a feral joy. "A magic lady?" he amended.

"Indeed she is, but only in the right hands. Look down," Merlin commanded gently. The bright sparks were back, curling around his fingers and the strings, sliding along his flesh and making him shiver. "Now we know what kind of magic inhabits you, and it's not a surprise. You're a bard. That's a bardic instrument you're holding."

"A bard? Like a singer? Yeah, that wasn't exactly a plot twist. "Does that mean I can't learn the magic that you do?"

"No. It just means that you have a rare and valuable specialty. You can still learn spells and such; you'll just always be a bard first, and a wizard second." Merlin reached out and touched Eggsy's hand on the strings. "Now, show me what you can do."

"What I can do, hm..." Eggsy hummed softly, considering his song choices. There was one cover he'd perfected over the last couple of months, but he really wanted Merlin to hear his own songs first. "You know this is scarier than being naked in public."

"I do know, lad. Take your time. I have nothing to do but listen to you." Merlin got up to lean over Eggsy's chair, planting a soft kiss on his lips before settling down again to wait.

In the end, Merlin wasn't waiting long. The [first song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkU56DqcdFU) to come to him wasn't a happy one, not by any stretch, but it had a savage pleasure in it. It was a song he'd written for Chester King, and what it would feel like to say goodbye to the man forever. He tapped into his ever-present rage against the man; the way he'd just used Eggsy as an expensive whore, the deliberate sexualisation of a fifteen year-old boy...all of it. The whole sorry lot. Yes, he _would_ walk out with his head held high, and thank you very much.

When the song was over, Eggsy looked over at Merlin, who looked frankly aroused, even if the way he'd crossed his legs hid the evidence. "So much rage," Merlin murmured. "So much anger that you've every right to feel. How _do_ you feel when you hear yourself sing that song?"

"Powerful." It was an instantaneous answer, but also simple truth. 

"Good. More." Merlin wasn't asking, and Eggsy didn't need telling.

Eggsy had done a lot of fantasising about what a romance might be like. It sounded daft, but Rox was right - he'd always and forever been a believer in true love. But, he imagined, sometimes true love didn't get a happy ending. The [second song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SsSe0UK8C8) was haunting, wistful...not sad, exactly, but eerily hungry.

The song also stretched his vocals with soaring highs and diving lows, and that's when he felt it truly for the first time - how alive this instrument was. Somehow, he knew she was happy to be back in a bard's hands.

From Merlin's face, he knew he'd nailed it. Shockingly, the only way he could clock that reaction was worship. "One more?" he asked softly.

"Fuck yeah. This ain't mine, but I think it might be ours." Eggsy grinned and [started singing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuZHLDMT6HM), following on a short guitar intro. Like the other two songs, this one was heartfelt and earnest, but with an optimistic upbeat tempo. Some of the lyrics were things he himself might say, but others were definitely Merlin's point of view. 

Merlin was, in fact, smiling so fondly at him that he thought his heart would explode out of his chest. He uncrossed his legs, revealing that Eggsy's instincts were right about the arousal, and held out a hand.

Eggsy got up and laid the guitar down on the chair gently before taking Merlin's hand and crawling right up onto his lap, straddling his hips and settling in for a proper cuddle. Thankfully, Merlin was as hungry as he was for touch. And kisses. All the kisses - long and slow and deep and toe-curling. 

"Let me be your first time," he murmured against Eggsy's lips.

"Let me be your last," Eggsy answered, smiling.

"Come to bed with me," Merlin asked, giving him that worshipful look again. Eggsy wasn't sure what to do with it. It was as unlike the adoring stares he was used to as anything could be. 

He crawled off Merlin's lap. For some reason, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. Not that he wanted to, really. Especially when Merlin rose up from his chair, hard for him again. Was it always going to be like this for them? And fuck, why did he even care when it was so good?

Eggsy walked to the foot of the bed and waited. He was pretty sure that he knew what Merlin wanted right now, but he wasn't going to be pushy about it this time. 

Merlin followed quietly, a hush filling the room in the absence of music. Without a word, he crawled onto the bed and spread his legs for Eggsy to crawl up between them.

It was uncanny the way he knew this man, but then he was known just as well in turn.

Crawling up and over Merlin, Eggsy leant up and claimed another kiss, pressing his thighs firmly to Merlin's as he swallowed down a moan. "Gonna stay right here, yeah?" It was the barest whisper, prompted by the death grip Merlin had on his shoulders. 

A shaky nod was all Merlin could manage, followed shortly by a low noise when Eggsy curled his fist firmly around Merlin's erect cock. He stroked slowly, in time to the kisses, until Merlin was a mess and he couldn't stand another moment of torment. 

They were both shaky at this point, whether from lust or particularly sappy emotions Eggsy couldn't say. He found the slick and messily coated two fingers before sliding them into that glorious, clinging, tight heat. Gasping, he felt Merlin tense up around his fingers and then push down to let him in deep.

Moaning pathetically, Eggsy shot a hand down to grip his own leaking prick, squeezing unmercifully to stave off his orgasm. He and Merlin were so close that they were breathing in each other's sighs and moans. 

"Now," Merlin whispered in that same barely-there tone Eggsy had used. 

Oh, how glad Eggsy was to hear that one word. He barely remembered to slick his cock before pushing in with a lack of practice but a world of hunger. This hunger was new - a slow, low burn that left him ravenous but patient, like a hunter with his prey. 

Merlin's tight little hole felt just as amazing as it had the first time, not to mention the way Merlin's arse fit him just so. He felt like they were made to fuck each other. 

He stole another kiss and started a deep, slow, primal rhythm that his hips knew with native fluency. His hands were going to leave bruises on Merlin's hips, but that just turned him on even more. 

On one of those thrusts Merlin cried out softly and his hips shot up. "Fuck, that's it, yeah?" he whispered, a feral smile creeping across his face. Now that he'd found that sweet spot that made Merlin writhe and his cock jerk and leak he was going to exploit it ruthlessly. 

This time, he was able to focus himself on Merlin, not his own explosive virgin need. His balls were in knots, but he knew he could hold on for Merlin. He'd had practice holding off his orgasm for Merlin, after all. 

Merlin was on the tip of the precipice, his body a pliant mess under Eggsy's weight. "You're gonna come for me. Just. Like. This." He punctuated each of those words with a particularly rough thrust. 

That was what Merlin needed to push him over the edge into a blinding orgasm, hips bucking up and hole tightening almost unbearably around Eggsy's cock. 

Eggsy broke the still-quiet air with a throaty growl as his own climax scoured through him. God, there was just something about coming inside Merlin. It made him feel unspeakably tender and strong all at the same time. He filled Merlin until he thought he was going to turn himself inside out. 

Merlin's arms came up heavily to wrap around him, still careful even in his fucked-out state not to let himself squeeze too hard around Eggsy's back. His thighs locked behind Eggsy's arse and Eggsy found himself immobile. Oh well. What else did he have to do?

"Dinnae go. No' yet." Merlin took a quavery breath. "I've...no' come like that before. No' without touching myself."

Oh. "Oh!" Eggsy wasn't sure what to do with that information. He felt very proud of himself, of course, but at the same time he felt deeply honored and, well, blessed. "I...am happy it was me."

"Who else?" Merlin scoffed gently. 

Merlin held him there until he softened too much to stay inside. Eggsy still held him protectively, curled around his bigger body and desperately trying to play the big spoon. 

When they emerged from the pheromone haze a good hour had passed. Eggsy groaned and sat up slowly, rolling over to grab his mobile off its charger. 

With remarkably few texts, he managed to tell his PA, Amelia, that he needed his belongings packed and brought with a town car to Merlin's address at 8:30 in the morning. He shut down her attempt to lure him into the 'Merlin conversation' because apparently it was all over the internet. Nope, not dealing with the public any more today. 

He followed it up with a quick text to his mum, telling her to expect him, Rox and a friend in time for lunch. She predictably teased him that he only had the one friend, Roxy, and he gave her the expected 'lol' in return. 

"All right, business concluded." Eggsy put his phone back where it was, pointedly ignoring several texts from his agent and even Chester about who the fuck this Merlin MacGregor was. They thought they had a right to know everything and everyone in his life, but they were sorely mistaken.

"Good. I think I have enough eggs for a proper omelet. You want?" Merlin was slowly getting to his feet and stretching like a well-satisfied cat. 

In the end, there were only three eggs, so they split the omelet and ate a mountain of buttered toast. It was the best meal Eggsy had ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And...cue the angst. They can't stay in that flat forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I wanted to do an AU, so I jumbled a bunch of them up and vomited them onto the page.


End file.
